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Prediction of body-fat percentage from skinfold and bio-impedance measurements in Indian school children

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 65, pages 1263–1270 (2011)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives:

Few equations for calculating body-fat percentage (BF%) from field methods have been developed in South-Asian children. The objective of this study was to assess agreement between BF% derived from primary reference methods and that from skinfold equations and bio-impedance analysis (BIA) in Indian children.

Subjects/Methods:

We measured BF% in two groups of Indian children. In Pune, 570 rural children aged 6–8 years underwent dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans. In Mysore 18O in doubly labeled water was administered to 59 urban children aged 7–9 years. We conducted BIA at 50 kHz and anthropometry, including sub-scapular and triceps skinfold thicknesses. We used the published equations of Wickramasinghe, Shaikh, Slaughter and Dezenburg to calculate BF% from anthropometric data and the manufacturer's equation for BIA measurements. We assessed agreement with values derived from DXA and doubly labeled water using Bland–Altman analysis.

Results:

Children were light and thin on average compared with international standards. There was poor agreement between the reference BF% values and those from all equations. Assumptions for Bland–Altman analysis were not met for Wickramasinghe, Shaikh and Slaughter equations. The Dezenberg equations under-predicted BF% for most children (mean difference in Pune −13.4, LOA −22.7, −4.0 and in Mysore −7.9, LOA (−13.7 and −2.2). The mean bias for the BIA equation in Pune was +5.0% and in Mysore +1.95%, and the limits of agreement were wide; −5.0, 15.0 and –7.8, 11.7 respectively.

Conclusions:

Currently available skinfold equations do not accurately predict BF% in Indian children. We recommend development of BIA equations in this population using a four-compartment model.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust. SHK contributed to data analysis, interpretation of results and drafted the manuscript; GVK, SRV, HGL and DSB carried out newborn and childhood data collection and contributed to manuscript preparation; AKW and AMG carried out the statistical analysis of data, contributed to interpretation of results and manuscript preparation; RK carried out the calculations related to 18O dilution; CHDF designed the study, coordinated the analysis, interpretation and drafting of the paper; CSY designed the study and contributed to interpretation of the results; AK coordinated 18O dilution analysis and related calculations, contributed to interpretation of results and drafting of manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical Research Council—Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton, UK

    S H Kehoe, A K Wills, A M Guntupalli & C H D Fall

  2. Epidemiology Research Unit, Holdsworth Memorial Hospital, Mysore, India

    G V Krishnaveni & S R Veena

  3. Diabetes Unit, KEM Hospital, Pune, India

    H G Lubree, D S Bhat & C S Yajnik

  4. Institute of Population Health and Clinical Research, St John's National Academy of Health Sciences, Bangalore, India

    R Kishore & A Kurpad

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  1. S H Kehoe
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  2. G V Krishnaveni
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  3. H G Lubree
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Correspondence to S H Kehoe.

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Kehoe, S., Krishnaveni, G., Lubree, H. et al. Prediction of body-fat percentage from skinfold and bio-impedance measurements in Indian school children. Eur J Clin Nutr 65, 1263–1270 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2011.119

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