Abstract
Attempts have been made to estimate body fat using anthropometry, and most of them are country-specific. This study was designed to develop and cross-validate anthropometric predictive equations to estimate the total body fat percentage (TBFP) of Sri Lankan adult women. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Galle, Sri Lanka, with two groups: Group A (group for equation development) and Group B (cross-validation group) (n = 175 each) of randomly selected healthy adult women aged 30–60 years. TBFP (%) was quantified with total body DXA (TBFPDXA). Height (m), weight (kg), and skinfold thickness (SFT, mm) at six sites and circumferences (cm) at five sites were measured. In the first step, four anthropometric equations were developed based on the data obtained from multiple regression analyses (TBFPDXA = dependent variable and anthropometric measurements and age = independent variables) with Group A. They were developed on the basis of circumferences (TBFP1), SFTs (TBFP2), circumferences and SFTs (TBFP3), and highly significant circumferences and SFTs (r ≥ 0.6) (TBFP4). In the second step, the newly developed equations were cross-validated using Group B. Three equations (TBFP1, TBFP2, and TBFP4) showed the agreement with cross-validation criteria. There were no differences between TBFPDXA and TBFP estimated by these equations (p > 0.05). They showed higher measurement concordance with TBFPDXA; correlation between measured TBFP with DXA and estimated with TBFP1, TBFP2, and TBFP4, respectively, was 0.80 (R2 = 0.65, SEE = 3.10), 0.83 (R2 = 0.69, SEE = 2.93), and 0.84 (R2 = 0.72, SEE = 2.78). Three anthropometric measurements based on predictive equations were developed and cross-validated to satisfactorily estimate the TBFP in adult women.
Highlights
Obesity and overweight are serious health concerns associated with multiple disease conditions among women, both globally and locally [1, 2]. e prevalence of obesity is determined using anthropometry which is considered as surrogates of body fat mass, while they predict the subcutaneous fat mass or even the lean mass
Sociodemographic and basic characteristics of measured variables of Groups A and B are shown in Tables 2 and 3, respectively. e sociodemographic characteristics, age, menopausal status, anthropometric measurements, and total body fat percentage (TBFP) of the two groups were not different (p > 0.05), indicating that two groups were similar with regard to their basic characteristics
A Sri Lankan study [12] has shown that skinfold thickness (SFT) predicted TBFP better in postmenarcheal girls aged between 15 and 19 years and the developed predictive equation was based on TrSFT and SISFT
Summary
Obesity and overweight are serious health concerns associated with multiple disease conditions among women, both globally and locally [1, 2]. e prevalence of obesity is determined using anthropometry which is considered as surrogates of body fat mass, while they predict the subcutaneous fat mass or even the lean mass. Body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) which are derived from basic anthropometric measurements and waist circumference (WC) are the commonly used surrogates of obesity [4]. Even though these anthropometric measurements are used to assess global adiposity in clinical and research settings due to the simplicity and low cost [5], the real definition of obesity is based on the total body fat percentage (TBFP) [6]. Its application is mostly limited to Journal of Obesity research settings due to the restricted availability of required technology [7]
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