Percentage Body Fat Assessed by Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis as a New Health Index for Rural Areas in the Asia-Pacific Region

The incidence of obesity has been increasing in the Asia-Pacific region, but many areas do not have access to expensive medical devices for evaluating body composition. Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) can precisely and easily estimate percentage body fat (%BF), of 869 middle-elderly adults (Japanese: 131 men, 435 women; Palauan: 42 men, 49 women; Thai: 106 men, 106 women; mean age, 58 years; range, 40-69 years) were recruited from rural areas in Thailand, Koror Island in Palau, and Goto Island in Japan. Weight and %BF were estimated using BIA. Height was measured and BMI was calculated. Results: Weight, BMI, and %BF clearly differed among ethnic groups and by gender (p<0.0001). In each ethnic group, %BF was significantly correlated with BMI for each sex (men: Japanese, r=0.691, p<0.0001; Palauan, r=0.892, p<0.0001; Thai, r=0.842, p<0.0001; women: Japanese, r=0.892, p<0.0001; Palauan, r=0.892, p<0.0001; Thai, r=0.779, p