The Role of Body Adiposity Index in Determining Body Fat Percentage in Colombian Adults with Overweight or Obesity

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the accuracy of body adiposity index (BAI) as a convenient tool for assessing body fat percentage (BF%) in a sample of adults with overweight/obesity using bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA). The study population was composed of 96 volunteers (60% female, mean age 40.6 ± 7.5 years old). Anthropometric characteristics (body mass index, height, waist-to-height ratio, hip and waist circumference), socioeconomic status, and diet were assessed, and BF% was measured by BIA-BF% and by BAI-BF%. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the correlation between BAI-BF% and BF% assessed by BIA-BF%, while controlling for potential confounders. The concordance between the BF% measured by both methods was obtained with a paired sample t-test, Lin’s concordance correlation coefficient, and Bland-Altman plot analysis. Overall, the correlation between BF% obtained by BIA-BF% and estimated by BAI-BF% was r = 0.885, p < 0.001, after adjusting for potential confounders (age, socioeconomic status, and diet). Lin’s concordance correlation coefficient was moderate in both sexes. In the men, the paired t-test showed a significant mean difference in BF% between the methods (−5.6 (95% CI −6.4 to −4.8); p < 0.001). In the women, these differences were (−3.6 (95% CI −4.7 to −2.5); p < 0.001). Overall, the bias of the BAI-BF% was −4.8 ± 3.2 BF%; p < 0.001), indicating that the BAI-BF% method significantly underestimated the BF% in comparison with the reference method. In adults with overweight/obesity, the BAI presents low agreement with BF% measured by BIA-BF%; therefore, we conclude that BIA-BF% is not accurate in either sex when body fat percentage levels are low or high. Further studies are necessary to confirm our findings in different ethnic groups.

Prevalence of overweight and obesity and associated risk factors among adult residents of northwest China: a cross-sectional study

“…In addition, self-reported data and the nature of cross-sectional data may lead to recall and reporting biases, which may be the reason for the non-significant difference in the causes of obesity. Finally, other indicators of adiposity, such as body-fat percentage and waist circumference, which many studies have noted reflect the prevalence of overweight, obesity and body-fat distribution, were not obtained in our study 40 41…”

Validation of Surrogate Anthropometric Indices in Older Adults: What Is the Best Indicator of High Cardiometabolic Risk Factor Clustering?

“…Measurements of anthropometric indices are inexpensive and non-invasive, and are easily conducted as part of normal health exams. Interestingly, anthropometric measurements such as body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and waist-to-height ratio (WtHR) show a close correlation with MetS components and could thus be useful surrogate markers for predicting MetS [8,9,10]. That being said, there remains controversy over which anthropometric indices [11] are the most appropriate predictors of cardiometabolic disease [12].…”

“Bioelectrical impedance analysis in managing sarcopenic obesity in NAFLD”

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