Assessment of body composition in children by bioelectrical impedance and skinfold anthropometry

This study is part of an intervention program related to overweight and obesity in children. Skinfold anthropometry (SKF) and Bioelectrical impedance (BIA) were used to know the initial body fat mass (BF). Aim to determine the level of agreement for BF measurement by BIA and SKF, using Bland and Altman method. Subjects and methods BF was calculated using Deurenberg for SKF and 7 different algorithms (Deurenberg A y B, Schaeffer, Rush y Schoeller A, B y C) for BIA in 145 children of both sex aged between 6–9 years. Results BF % (SKF): 23.3 ± 4.6 and average BF % (BIA): 21.89 ± 2.63. Concordance analysis revealed that the average difference between SKF‐BIA was variable (−5.5% to 0.2 %), and the standard deviation too wide (6.3 to 17.3). The algorithm Deurenberg A had the minor average difference of 0,21 % ± 7,88. Conclusion Measurements of BF determined by these algorithms for BIA gave poor agreement with SKF, thus the results suggest the need to develop validated equations for BIA using reference methodology as deuterium dilution method. This study is going on at present. Supported by UBACyT B098 and ARCAL RLA/6/059