High Prevalence of Muscle Loss Observed in Children with IBD: Study
A recent study published in the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition highlighted a critical flaw in how healthcare providers assess the nutritional health of children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD): body mass index (BMI) may not tell the whole story.
This research analyzed data from 516 newly diagnosed IBD patients between ages 5 and 20 found that over a quarter (26%) had significantly low lean mass, despite only 4% having a low BMI. This mismatch underlined the limitations of BMI that fails to distinguish between fat and lean tissue.
The study from 2014 to 2019, used whole-body dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) to more accurately assess body composition. Through DXA, the team calculated Appendicular Lean Soft Tissue Mass Index (AppLSTMI) and Fat Mass Index (FMI), converting these into age- and sex-adjusted Z-scores to identify abnormalities.
This study found high prevalence of low lean mass (AppLSTMI Z-score < –2) in the pediatric IBD population, even when BMI Z-scores were in the normal range. This suggests that children with IBD could be at risk for muscle mass deficits without appearing underweight by traditional BMI standards.
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