USEFULNESS OF BIOELECTRIC IMPEDANCE AND SKINFOLD MEASUREMENTS IN PREDICTING FAT-FREE MASS DERIVED FROM TOTAL-BODY POTASSIUM IN CHILDREN

Despite the increasing use of tetrapolar whole-body bioelectric impedance (BI) analysis in the assessment of body composition, its usefulness in estimating fat-free mass (FFM) has not been evaluated in comparison with conventional skinfold anthropometry in children. We therefore compared 1) the intraobserver and interobserver reproducibility of BI and skinfold measurements and the derived FFM estimates, and 2) the predictability of FFM as calculated from measurements of total body potassium (TBK) using K-40 spectrometry by equations based on either BI or skinfold measurements in 112 healthy children, adolescents, and young adults aged 3.9 to 19.3 y. A best-fitting equation to predict TBK-derived FFM from BI and other potential independent predictors was developed and cross validated in two randomly selected subgroups of the study population by stepwise multiple regression analysis. Although the technical error associated with BI measurements was much smaller than that of skinfold measurements, the reproducibility of PI-derived FFM estimates (intraobserver coefficient of variation [CV], 0.39%; interobserver CV, 1.23%) was only slightly better than that of FFM estimates obtained by use of weight and two skinfold measurements (0.62% and 1.39%, respectively). The cross validation procedure yielded the following best-fitting prediction equation: FFM = 0.65.(height(2)/impedance) + 0.68.age + 0.15 (R(2) = 0.975, root mean square error 1.98 kg, CV = 5.8%, 95% limits of agreement = -11.1% to +12.4%). Conventional anthropometry, using published equations to estimate FFM from skinfolds, slightly overestimated TBK-derived FFM, but predicted FFM with precision similar to the best-fitting equation involving BI. Previously published FFM equations incorporating BI predicted TBK-derived FFM with variable predictive precision and accuracy. We conclude that BI analysis provides an alternative technique to assess FFM in children. At least within the range of normal body composition, its predictive power is similar to that of established skinfold techniques.