Fat Percentage Equation for Children with Cerebral Palsy: A Novel Approach

Abstract

Nutritional changes are commonly related to children with cerebral palsy (CP), since these are problems as: dysphagia, vomiting and gastrointestinal reflux. For nutritional monitoring, body composition has become an important tool and has been present in this population assessments routine. In this sense, the aim of this study was to develop an equation for body composition estimate for children with cerebral palsy, aged between 5 and 6 years, using skinfolds, from the results of body composition obtained by Dual Energy X-rays Absormetry (DEXA). The study included 10 male children with cerebral palsy, aged between five and six-years-old, who participated in the physical therapy intensive program in Vitória research center, Curitiba, Brazil. Participants were assessed by: the Gross Motor Function Classification System; DEXA; and skinfold thickness. The skinfolds that showed better correlation with the total fat percentage and segmental fat percentage were: biceps and abdominal. The results of the regression analysis obtained equations to estimate the fat percentage by skinfold thickness with R²: 1.000 and 0.971, to seven and two skinfold thickness, respectively. In this sense, it is recommended to use the equation that utilizes the biceps and abdominal skinfolds thickness to estimate fat percentage of children with cerebral palsy, as this presents good estimation indicators.