Correlation of Measurements for Body Fat in Obese Children

Purpose:Measurement of body fat in obese children is useful not only in evaluating health hazard but also in establishing standards of treatment and evaluating the effectiveness of treatment. In the field of clinical and laboratory study, there are various methods with different reliability, propriety, convenience, and expenses. However, the practical value of these studies is limited in Korea, especially in the field of pediatrics, therefore we investigated the correlation of body fat measurement methods to establish the basis for the practical use in children. Methods:The study is based on the records of a total of 32 cases who visited the pediatric obesity clinics at Chung-Ang University Yong San Hospital from April 2003 to September 2003. We measured the height, weight, waist-hip ratio obesity degree and body mass index. Then we analyzed the correlation of these manual measurement data with the results of bioelectrical impedance analysis(BIA), Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry(DEXA). Results:The body mass index was correlated with the quantity of body fat(r=0.805, P=0.000), the ratio of body fat(r=0.437, P=0.012), and the ratio of abdominal fat(r=0.458, P=0.008) in DEXA. The obesity degree was correlated only with the ratio of body fat(r=0.358, P=0.044) in DEXA. The body composition measured by BIA and DEXA showed significant correlation with the quantity of body fat(r=0.953, P=0.000) and the ratio of body fat(r=0.578, P=0.001), but the ratios of abdominal fat were not correlated with each other. Conclusion:Body mass index is more accurate compared with obesity degree. In addition, BIA can be utilized competitively in screening of body fat, although it is limited in measuring localized fat distribution when compared with DEXA. (Korean J Pediatr 2004;47:485-490)