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ABSTRACT
Purpose: The aim of the present study was to determine which of the published anthropometric equations is the most appropriate to estimate body-fat percentage (BF%) in adolescent swimmers. Method: Eighty-eight swimmers (45 boys, 43 girls) participated in this study. Following the recommendations of the International Society of the Advancement of Kinanthropometry, biceps, triceps, subscapular, iliac-crest, supraspinale, front-thigh, and medial calf skinfold thicknesses were measured. Waist, hip, midthigh, calf, relaxed arm, and arm flexed and tensed girths were also registered. BF% was measured with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) to obtain the reference value. Existing anthropometric equations were applied, and BF% results obtained from anthropometric equations were compared to DXA BF% results with the modified Bland-Altman. Results: The Flavel, Durnin-Rahaman-Siri, and Durnin-Rahaman-Brozek were the only equations that did not demonstrate statistically significant differences when compared with DXA. Conclusion: The present study showed that the best anthropometric equation from existing literature to estimate BF% in swimmers is that proposed by Durnin-Rahaman (independently of applying the Siri or Brozek equation).
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Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge all participating children and adolescents, their parents, their coaches, and their clubs for their collaboration and dedication to the project. The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest that may affect the contents of this work.
Funding
This work was supported by the Spanish “Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad” Plan Nacional I+D+i Citation2008-Citation2011 under Grant No. DEP2011-29093; Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional. GLB received a Grant FPU Citation2013 (FPU13/02111) from the “Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte.” AGB received a Grant FPI Citation2012 (BES-Citation2012-051888) from the “Ministerio Economía y Competitividad.” AML received a Grant AP2012/02854 from the “Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte.”