Abstract
The World Health Organization provides equations for the prediction of basal metabolic rate, and hence caloric and protein requirements, in 10 - 18 year old males:
Lean body mass and BMR can be expected to increase with advance in male puberty. 86 healthy male volunteers aged 11.8 - 13.7 years had height, weight, testicular volume and BMR (using ventilaled hood indirect calorimetry) measured.
We derived the following equation to take account of testicular size based on our results: BMR (MJ/day) = 0.0735 Wt (kg) + 0.094 TV (ml) + 2.059
Using the WHO equations, knowing the boy's height increased the correlation of actual vs predicled BMR from 0.626 (Wt eq) to 0.632 (Wt & Ht eq). Our equation increases the correlation to 0.726. The absolute error of predicted BMR is reduced from 0.96 ± 0.06 MJ/day (Wt eq) and 0.95 ± 0.06 (Wt & Ht eq) to 0.50 ± 0.06 (p < 0.001, t-test). Pubertal assessment increases the accuracy of prediction of BMR, and hence energy and nutritional requirement, of boys in the 10 - 18 year age group.
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Brown, D., Wu, F. & Kelnar, C. PREDICTION OF BASAL METABOLIC RATE IN ADOLESCENT BOYS: TESTICULAR SIZE IS MORE USEFUL THAN HEIGHT. Pediatr Res 33 (Suppl 5), S84 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199305001-00485
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199305001-00485
