Objective:

To compare the diagnostic performance of adiposity indeces body mass index (BMI), body mass index adjusted for fat mass (BMIfat), body adiposity index (BAI) and body adiposity index for the Fels Longitudinal Study sample (BAIFels) and the overweight detection in a sample of the Brazilian population.

Methods:

Cross-sectional study with 501 individuals (female/male = 387/114), which underwent anthropometric measurements and body composition for subsequent calculation of adiposity indices. Statistical analyzes considered p < 0.05 as statistically significant.

Results:

The averages were: age of 46.94 ± 14.22 years and 48.05 ± 14.40 years, weight 79.5 ± 16, 14 kg and 70.42 ± 16,62 kg, height 172.86 ± 7.6 cm and 159.0 ± 7,35 cm, for men and women, respectively. According to the eutrophic ratings and overweight, the BMIfat ranked 40.3% and 34.0% for men and 21.7% and 65.0% for females, respectively. While the BAI held 47.7% and 62.3% for men and 65.6% and 34.4% for women, respectively. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of BMIfat was clearly superior to all other indexes for both men (93.1%) and women (97.8%), respectively.

Conclusion:

Findings suggest that BMIfat is the index that has better relationship with the prediction of body fat, BAI did not exceed the limitations of BMI. Future studies should seek to expand this study by adopting the gold standard methods such as DXA and it is necessary to extend the investigation of the validity of adiposity indices to different ethnic groups.

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