Resumen

MARTIN MORENO, Vicente; GOMEZ GANDOY, Juan Benito; ANTORANZ GONZALEZ, María Jesús  y  GOMEZ DE LA CAMARA, Agustín. Interchangeability among the Percentages of Body Fat Estimated by Mid-Arm Adipose Area, Triceps Skinfold Thickness and Arm-to-Arm Segmental Bioimpedance Analysis. Rev. Esp. Salud Publica [online]. 2003, vol.77, n.3, pp.347-361. ISSN 2173-9110.

Background: Assessing nutritional status based on the upper limbs is useful at the clinical level. The aim of this study is to evaluate the agreement degree of the body fat percentages (%BF) estimated by the mid-arm adipose area (%BF_ARM), the Siri triceps skinfold equation (%BF_TRICEPS) and the arm-to-arm segmental bioimpedance analysis (%BF_BIA), as well as the Siri four-skinfold equation (%BF_SIRI), assessing their interchangeability. Methods: A cross-sectional study. Body fat assessments were made on a total of 145 subjects (83 males, 62 females) anthropometrically and by bioelectrical impedance analysis (Omron BF 300^Ó). The agreement between methods were analyzed using the interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and the Bland-Altman method. Results: The ICC between %BF_ARM and %BF_TRÍCEPS was 0.8322 (CI 95% 0.7672-0.8791); between %BF_ARM-%BF_BIA 0.7337 (0.6305-0.8080) and between %BF_TRICEPS-%BF_BIA 0.9290 (0.9015; 0.9488). For the Bland-Altman method, the agreement interval between %BF_ARM-%BF_TRÍCEPS (-11.2; 16.96) and between %BF_ARM-%BF_BIA (-13.04; 21.76) exceeded the cutoff point (±10%), but not between %BF_TRICEPS-%BF_BIA (-6.64; 9.6), %BF_SIRI-%BF_TRÍCEPS (-5.27; 4.52) and %BF_SIRI-%BF_BIA (-6.31; 8.52). The BMI has no bearing on the results. Conclusions: The method utilized influences the nutritional assessment made based on the upper limbs. The mid-arm adipose area method overestimated the %BF with relationship to the Siri triceps skinfold or four-skinfold equation and to the bioelectrical impedance analysis, and although this result suggests that mid-arm adipose area may not be a good indicator of global adiposity, this must be confirmed against a gold standard.

Palabras clave : Bioelectrical impedance; Anthropometry; Body composition; Body fat; Skinfold thickness; Nutrition Assessment; Arm.

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