title: Energy metabolism during male human puberty. II. Use of testicular size in predictive equations for basal metabolic rate.
abstract: This study tests the hypothesis that equations to predict basal metabolic rate (BMR) of adolescent boys may be made more accurate by using a measure of pubertal maturity (testicular volume, TV). Eighty-six male volunteers aged 11.8-13.7 years were studied. There was a wide range of pubertal development within the subject group, ranging from mean TV of 3 to 22.5 ml. BMR was found to correlate more highly with TV (r = 0.519) than height (r = 0.425) or age (r = 0.272). BMR predicted using the World Health Organization equations (based on height and weight) were significantly higher than measured BMR in early pubertal boys (TV < or = 4 ml, BMR (measured) = 5.04 +/- 0.17, BMR (predicted) = 6.14 +/- 0.15 MJ/day, p < 0.001, Student's t-test). The results provide evidence that measurement of testicular volume may increase the accuracy of equations for the prediction of BMR of adolescent boys.
authors.affiliation: University of Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Kelnar
authors.forename: F C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001481:Basal Metabolism; D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011627:Puberty / Q000378:metabolism*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013737:Testis / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000254:growth & development*