Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of the study was to determine the agreement of percent body fat estimates and obesity classification derived via whole-body bioelectrical impedance analysis (%BF-BIA) with percent body fat estimates and obesity classification from skinfolds (%BF-SF) in children and adolescents. Methods. BIA and SF data were collected on 609 boys and 645 girls aged 7 to 14 years. Results. Although moderate correlations were observed between the measures, Bland-Altman analyses revealed fixed and proportional bias, and 95% limits of agreement covered a range of over 20%BF. Agreement of obesity classification was moderately high in boys (κq=0.77) and girls (κq=0.81), but fewer children were classified as obese via %BF-BIA (14.5%) than via %BF-SF (19.8%). Conclusions. The results indicate that whole-body BIA provides %BF estimates that are systematically different from %BF estimates from skinfolds in children and adolescents.
Parts of this work were supported by grants from the North Carolina Institute of Nutrition and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (awarded to David A. Rowe), and grant NIH NIDDK R01 061489 from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (awarded to Joseph E. Donnelly).