ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Clinical Nutrition
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1597087
This article is part of the Research TopicBioimpedance Analysis: Lifelong Health, Disease, and Sport ApplicationsView all 13 articles
Reference Centiles for Evaluating Phase Angle by Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis among Chinese Children Aged 6-11 years
Provisionally accepted
- 1Beijing Children’s Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
- 2People's Hospital of Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous Country, Gansu Provience, Gansu, China
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Background: Bioelectrical impedance phase angle (PhA) is influenced by multiple factors including age, gender, ethnicity, and growth status. However, reference ranges for PhA in Chinese children remain undefined. This study was designed to establish the normative PhA values in Chinese school-aged children, with the goal of providing clinicians with more precision nutritional assessment. Method: A retrospective analysis approach was employed. Primary diagnoses were extracted from the hospital information system (HIS). The data were stratified by age and gender, with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) calculated for each demographic subgroup. Age- and gender-specific percentile curves were subsequently generated. A multivariable linear regression model was implemented to examine the associations between PhA and potential determinants, including age, gender, body mass index (BMI), and other clinically relevant covariates. Result：A total of 1247 children were included in this study, with 689 (55.3%) being boys. No significant differences in phase angle (PhA) were detected between boys and girls in the 6- and 7-year-old groups. However, boys consistently exhibited higher PhA values than girls in the 8–11-year-old groups (P < 0.05). PhA increased with age in both genders, with similar age-related trends and percentile curves. The regression model revealed that age (B = 0.018, 95%CI: 0.003, 0.033) and BMI (B = 0.077, 95%CI: 0.068, 0.086) were positive correlations with PhA, whereas extracellular water (ECW) / intracellular Water (ICW) (B = -22.925, 95%CI: -25.150, -20.699) had a negative effect on PhA.Conclusion：This study delineates the characteristics of phase angle (PhA) in Chinese children aged 6 to 11 years. The newly established reference ranges offer clinicians and researchers a practical tool for evaluating PhA in this pediatric population. These findings provide a valuable foundation for clinical assessment and further research on PhA in children.
Keywords: Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA), Phase angle (PhA), Children, Chinese, reference centile curves
Received: 20 Mar 2025; Accepted: 04 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yang, Qian, Gu, Li, Yang and Liang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Aimin Liang, Beijing Children’s Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
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