Development and Validation of a Skin Fold Thickness Prediction Equation for Asian Indians Using Hydrodensitometry

Abstract

Skin fold thickness prediction equations are widely used for estimating body fat percentage and thereby obesity. Equations to estimate body fat percentage for the Asian Indian population do not yet exist. The main purpose of this study was to develop and validate a new prediction equation for the estimation of body fat percentage in Asian Indian adults using anthropometric measurements (skin folds, circumference, bone breadth) and DEXA using hydro static under water weighing (hydrodensitometry) as a gold standard. Method: 137 healthy people (77 males and 60 females), in the age group of 30-60 years were included in the study. With hydrodensitometry, anthropometric measurements such as height, weight, 10 skin folds thickness sites, 5 sites of circumference, 5 sites of bone breadths and DEXA scans were taken as variables. A linear regression model was then created for both males and females, with body fat % calculated by hydrodensitometry used as a dependent variable and other anthropometric measurements and DEXA results used as independent variables. Results: 4 new body fat estimation models, 2 for males and 2 for females were obtained for Asian Indians with R2 of 0.90 and 0.71 for males and 0.90 and 0.72 for females respectively. Conclusion: The new prediction equations for body fat % estimation, which were derived and internally validated in an adult Indian population revealing a lower error difference than previously developed models.