Diagnostic Sensitivity in Predicting Hyperlipidemia by Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis in Obese Children

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Childhood obesity is currently on the rise. The complications of childhood obesity are depression, adult obesity, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, coronary artery disease and fatty liver. Therefore, accurate diagnosis of obesity is important. The purpose of this study was to assess diagnostic sensitivity to predict hypelipidemia by bioelectrical impedance analysis (BI) in obese children. METHODS: One hundred fifteen healthy subjects who have received health care services at Ewha Womans University Hospital were enrolled. Obesity was diagnosed by an obesity index (OI), Rohrer index (RI), body mass index (BMI), skinfold thickness (ST) of the triceps and subscapularis, and bioelectrical impedance analysis. The correlation coefficients between BI and other variable methods were obtained. The sensitivity and specificity to predict hyperlipidemia in obese children by several methods were studied.RESULTS: The incidence of obesity was 20.9% by bioelectrical impedance analysis. The BI highly correlated with ST (r=0.828), RI (r=0.826), BMI (r=0.821) and OI (r=0.619). The blood level of total cholesterol and triglyceride were statistically higher in obese children diagnosed by BI compared to non-obese children. In obese children, sensitivity in predicting hyperlipidemia was higher in RI than in other methods, the specificity for low density lipoprotein was higher in BI. CONCLUSION: Bioelectrical impedance analysis highly correlated with several other methods to assess obesity. The sensitivity and specificity to predict hyperlipidemia in obese children by BI was similar to other methods.