Body composition of New Zealand-born term babies differs by ethnicity, gestational age and sex

Abstract Background Body composition provides important information on nutrition and future metabolic risk. New Zealand has a diverse ethnic population for which there are no newborn body composition data. Aim To determine body composition in a cohort of New Zealand-born term babies. Study design Observational study. Subjects Healthy, term infants between 37+0 and 41+6 weeks' gestation in two hospitals in Auckland, New Zealand. Outcome measures Body composition by air displacement plethysmography and anthropometry measured within 5 days of birth. Parent-identified ethnicity was prioritised according to Ministry of Health criteria. Data were analysed using t-test, ANOVA with Tukey post-hoc tests, quantile regression and are mean(SD). Results 440 babies (54% male) were included. Pacific Island/Māori (PI/M) were heavier at birth than Asian/Middle Eastern/Latin American/African (Asian+) babies (3403(506) vs 3181(485) g, p  Conclusions Asian+ babies were the smallest babies with the least FFM yet had similar FM and the highest FM%, indicative of a thin, fat phenotype from birth.