REACH (Revolutionising and Evaluating Anthropometry for Children’s Health) is finding better ways to measure children’s bodies and health. The project is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship led by Dr Alice Bullas at the Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre, Sheffield Hallam University.<\/p>\n
How we measure children matters. Measurements decide whether a child is diagnosed and offered support, how services are planned, and how products from car seats to school uniforms are designed. Most of these decisions still rest on BMI, a measure with well-known limits in children.<\/p>\n
REACH brings together children, families, clinicians, researchers, policymakers and industry to answer two questions:<\/p>\n
REACH will also create Child Anthrobank<\/strong>, a data repository dedicated to child body measurement, so that the data and methods we develop can support research, design and innovation for years to come.<\/p>\n Childhood obesity is one of the biggest health challenges the UK faces. Children living with obesity are more likely to develop heart disease, type 2 diabetes and other conditions earlier in life. Rates are highest in our most deprived communities, which deepens health inequalities.<\/p>\n Measuring body fat and health directly takes specialist equipment, time and expertise. Doctors, schools and researchers therefore rely on simple outside measurements, such as height and weight, to estimate body fat and judge health risk.<\/p>\n BMI (body mass divided by height squared) is the most widely used of these. It is quick, cheap and comes with ready-made thresholds. BMI also has serious weaknesses:<\/p>\n The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has called for research into “the most accurate and suitable measurements and boundary values to assess the health risk associated with overweight, obesity and central adiposity in children and young people of different ethnicities”. REACH responds directly to that call.<\/p>\n REACH aims to transform how we measure the bodies of children living with obesity. We have four objectives:<\/p>\n We will look at every result by body size, age, gender, social background and ethnicity, so that our findings work for all children.<\/p>\n REACH is organised into four work packages. Each one builds on the last, and children, families and professionals help shape every stage.<\/p>\n 1.1 REACH: Measuring the Evidence (systematic review).<\/strong> We are reviewing published studies that use body measurements to assess body fat and health in children. This updates and extends a major 2015 NIHR Health Technology Assessment review, and its findings will inform every later stage of REACH.<\/p>\n 1.2 REACH: Little Bodies, Big Voices (co-design).<\/strong> Children aged 3 to 10, parents, carers and professionals take part in creative workshops to design how the REACH cohort will run. They help decide how we invite families, explain and carry out each measurement, set up the measurement space, look after data and thank families for their time. Participants can also join the REACH public involvement panel, which advises us throughout the fellowship. Find out more about Little Bodies, Big Voices.<\/p>\n 1.3 REACH: Grow With Us (the REACH cohort).<\/strong> We will follow 400 children from across Sheffield, measuring them once a year from age 3 to 4 until age 9 to 10. This cohort will show which body measures best predict body fat and health as children grow. You can read more in “REACH: Grow With Us” below.<\/p>\n We will ask children aged 3 to 18, parents, carers and professionals what they think of different body measures and measurement methods. We want to know how usable, acceptable, practical and flexible each one is. This work happens in two stages:<\/p>\n Child Anthrobank will be a data repository dedicated to child body measurement. It will first hold the data and methods REACH produces, and it is designed to grow by hosting data from other studies too.<\/p>\n We will design Child Anthrobank’s structure, rules and access criteria together with children, families and experts from practice, policy, research and business. A steering group based at Sheffield Hallam University will manage it. Access will depend on meeting strict data privacy and security criteria.<\/p>\n REACH Further develops the expertise and partnerships needed to lead child body measurement research in the UK and beyond. It includes specialist training, research visits to leading body measurement studies around the world, and thought leadership events that bring together experts in child body measurement.<\/p>\n REACH: Grow With Us is the REACH cohort. It will follow 400 children from across Sheffield as they grow. Children join at age 3 to 4 and visit us once a year until age 9 to 10. Data collection starts in September 2027.<\/p>\n We want the cohort to reflect every child, so we will welcome children of all body sizes, genders, social backgrounds and ethnicities. We will make extra effort to include families who are often missed by research, including families from more deprived communities and ethnic minority backgrounds. Families can expect:<\/p>\n The measures below come from our original fellowship application. Families and professionals are helping us refine them through Little Bodies, Big Voices, and some may be simplified for younger children.<\/p>\nWhy we need better measures<\/h2>\n
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Our aims<\/h2>\n
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Our research<\/h2>\n
Work package 1: Accuracy of body measures<\/h3>\n
Work package 2: Suitability of body measures<\/h3>\n
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Work package 3: Child Anthrobank<\/h3>\n
Work package 4: Building leadership<\/h3>\n
REACH: Grow With Us<\/h2>\n
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What we plan to measure<\/h3>\n