Dobras cutâneas e bioimpedância elétrica perna-perna na avaliação da composição corporal de crianças

Abstract

Objective The objective of this study was to compare the components of body composition obtained by leg-to-leg bioimpedance and skinfold thickness measurements in children. Methods Triceps and subscapular skinfold thicknesses and TANITA TBF-300A leg-to-leg bioimpedance were used to determine the body composition of 1.286 schoolchildren (703 girls and 583 boys) aged 7 to 9 years. The Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) and Bland-Altman plot were used to analyze the agreement between the two methods. Results The two methods correlated strongly and significantly for girlś and boyś percentage of body fat (0.77 and 0.89, respectively), fat mass (0.93 and 0.94 respectively) and lean mass (0.92 and 0.89 respectively). The Bland- Altman plot also showed good agreement between the methods, since only a few points corresponding to the differences between the measurements obtained by the two methods were outside the confidence interval. Conclusion These results show that both methods, triceps and subscapular skinfold thicknesses and leg-to-leg bioimpedance, can be used to asses the body composition of schoolchildren in population-based studies. Yet, the wide variability observed in some measurements suggests that either method should always be associated with other indicators to assess body composition.