Body mass index and skinfold thickness versus bioimpedance analysis: fat mass prediction in children

Abstract

Childhood obesity increases the risk of morbidity whether or not obesity persists into adulthood. Measurement of body fat content using bioimpedance analysis (BIA) is a useful tool in epidemiologic studies. Both tricep skinfold thickness (TST, mm) and body mass index (BMI, kg/m(2)) are indirect, simple methods and easy to perform for assessing body composition. These methods are generally accepted as good clinical measures for defining childhood obesity. The aim of our study was to evaluate fat mass (FM, kg and %) measurements using TST and BIA (50 kHz) in a cohort of 6-year-old Italian children. A total of 228 southern Italian children (121 boys, 107 girls), randomly selected in nine local primary schools, were included in the study. The correlation between methods for measuring FM was calculated. Linear regression analysis showed a significant positive correlation between FM measured with BIA and BMI ( r=0.92, p<0.001) and with TST ( r=0.79, p<0.001). We conclude that FM measurement using TST and BIA is comparable in different BMI ranges. However, BIA is a useful and alternative method for detecting body composition in children and may be a more precise tool than TST for measuring FM in epidemiological studies in pediatric populations.

Comparison between bioelectrical impedance analysis and body mass index methods in determination of obesity prevalence in Ahvazi women

“…Pecoraro et al (2003) also showed a significant positive correlation between fat mass measured by BIA and BMI (r ¼ 0.92; Po0.001). The sensitivity and specificity of BMI in low-percent body fat subjects were calculated by Gartner et al in 586 women of Congo, Central Africa.…”

“…Hence, it is prudent to make the diagnosis of obesity based on the measure of percentage body fat. BIA method is a useful, available, inexpensive, valid and reliable technique in nutritional epidemiologic studies on both healthy subjects (Blanchard et al, 1990;Roubenoff, 1996;Pecoraro et al, 2003) and patients monitoring in medical settings and clinics (Ellis et al, 1999;Lukaski, 1999;Erselcant et al, 2000) for body composition analysis and investigating obesity and overweight prevalence.…”

“…The authors concluded that both diseases occur in Koreans with lower BMIs than the Whites. To clarify these discrepancies, bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) method has received a great interest as a useful tool in evaluating the body fat and composition in both healthy individuals and patients (Kitano et al, 2001;Sampei et al, 2001;Pecoraro et al, 2003;Piccoli et al, 2005).…”

Harmonization process and reliability assessment of anthropometric measurements in a multicenter study in adolescents

“…However, if variations in compressibility reflect differences in the fluid content of uncompressed skinfolds, the reduction of these differences by compression might increase the validity of skinfold thicknesses as measures of regional fatness. Anthropometry and BIA measurements are relatively simple techniques that have correlation with the amount of body fat; [14][15][16] therefore, they are widely used in epidemiological studies. [15][16][17][18] BIA aims to estimate the total body water, and then the fat-free mass.…”

Assessment of body fat proportion by means of bioelectrical impedance in athletic boys aged 7 to 18 years with respect to specific types of instruments

“…V současnosti patří k nejvíce využívaným přístrojové metody založené na principu biolektrické impedance (BIA), které jsou využívány pro diagnostiku tělesného složení, jednotlivých frakcí a kompartmentů. Hodnocení složení těla pomocí metody BIA nachází své praktické uplatnění v mnoha ob-lastech lékařské i sportovní praxe (Buchholz, Bartok, & Schoeller, 2004;Jaff rin, 2009;Malina, Bouchard, & Bar-Or, 2004;Pecoraro et al, 2003). Především v posledním desetiletí dochází k intenzivnímu rozvoji metody a s je tím spojený i vývoj moderní přístrojové techniky (Ward, 2012).…”