THE DEVELOPMENT OF PREDICTION EQUATIONS FOR BMI AND FAT MASS FROM SIMPLE ANTHROPOMETRY IN 6-TO-8-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN

ABSTRACT

Early identification of excessive weight is needed for preventing obesity. The aim of this study was to determine the interrelationships among simple anthropometry variables for measuring body fatness, and formulate the prediction equations for body mass index (BMI) and fat mass (FM) in children. The body composition of 664 children aged 6-8 years old was assessed by the following methods: BMI, waist circumference (WC), triceps skinfold thickness (TST) and conicity index (CI). Fat mass, fat free mass (FFM) and percentage of body fat (%BF) were derived from Dezenberg’s equation. Pearson correlations showed that in boys, BMI had a high correlation with WC, TST, FM, FFM and %BF. Correlation between WC and CI, TST, FM, FFM and %BF were also high. In contrast, the correlation between CI and other anthropometric variables was low, except for WC. Similar outcomes were observed in girls. The three BMI prediction equations based body weight and/or TST and/or WC (R2 = 0.83-0.87, CV 6-7%), and the FM prediction equations based on body weight and TST (R2 = 0.99-1.0, CV 0.4-6%) were developed with high coefficient of determination. Thus, BMI, WC and TST were useful tools for evaluating childhood adiposity, whereas CI was the poorest index.