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

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 BFimpedance analysis (BIA) in Indian children.Subjects/Methods: We measured BF 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 50kHz and anthropometry, including sub-scapular and triceps skinfold thicknesses. We used the published equations of Wickramasinghe, Shaikh, Slaughter and Dezenburg to calculate BFAltman analysis.Results: Children were light and thin on average compared with international standards. There was poor agreement between the reference BFAltman analysis were not met for Wickramasinghe, Shaikh and Slaughter equations. The Dezenberg equations under-predicted BF% 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 +5.01.95 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 BFcompartment model.