Body Fat Measurement in Adolescent Girls with Type 1 Diabetes: a Comparison of Skinfold Equations Against Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry

Overview

Journal Acta Paediatr

Specialty Pediatrics

Date 2016 Feb 14

PMID 26873351

Citations 1

Authors

S Sarnblad

A Magnuson

U Ekelund

J Aman

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Aim: Skinfold measurement is an inexpensive and widely used technique for assessing the percentage of body fat (%BF). This study assessed the accuracy of prediction equations for %BF based on skinfold measurements compared to dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in girls with type 1 diabetes and healthy age-matched controls.

Methods: We included 49 healthy girls and 44 girls with diabetes aged 12-19 years old, comparing the predicted %BF based on skinfold measurements and the %BF values obtained by a Lunar DPX-L scanner. The agreement between the methods was assessed using an Bland-Altman plot.

Results: The skinfold measurements were significantly higher in girls with diabetes (p = 0.003) despite a nonsignificant difference in total %BF (p = 0.1). A significant association between bias and %BF was found for all tested equations in the Bland-Altman plots. Regression analysis showed that the association between skinfold measurements and %BF measured by DXA differed significantly (p = 0.039) between the girls with diabetes and the healthy controls.

Conclusion: The accuracy of skinfold thickness equations for assessment of %BF in adolescent girls with diabetes is poor in comparison with DXA measurements as criterion. Our findings highlight the need for the development of new prediction equations for girls with type 1 diabetes.

Citing Articles

Higher Body Fat in Children and Adolescents With Type 1 Diabetes-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Zheng Y, Rostami Haji Abadi M, Gough J, Johnston J, Nour M, Kontulainen S Front Pediatr. 2022; 10:911061.

PMID: 35813369 PMC: 9263393. DOI: 10.3389/fped.2022.911061.

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