Applicability of the body adiposity index to estimate body fat in adolescents with type-1 diabetes mellitus

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to verify the level of concordance between Body Adiposity Index (BAI) and Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) in the evaluation of body fat percentage in adolescents with type-1 diabetes mellitus (DM1). The sample consisted of 34 adolescents (16 boys and 18 girls) aged 10-15 years. Height and hip circumference data were collected for BAI calculation, and fat percentage was evaluated using DEXA. The Shapiro Wilk test was used to verify data normality. The Wilcoxon test was performed to compare age, anthropometric and BMI, BAI z score and DEXA between sexes. The correlation of variables (BAI vs DEXA) was evaluated by the Spearman correlation coefficient. For the analysis of residual scores, the Bland-Altman test was applied. The Kappa coefficient (k) was performed to assess the level of concordance between BAI and DEXA. Therefore, weak and non-significant correlation between BAI and DEXA in boys (r= 0.19, p= 0.46), and girls (r= 0.10, p= 0.73) was observed. Thus, weak concordance was observed (k= 0.09) for both sexes. It was concluded that BAI is not recommended to estimate fat percentage in adolescents with DM1.