CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 89Body Composition Measurement TechniquesObesity, Physical Activity, DietPhysical Activity and Health

Prediction of DXA-Determined Whole Body Fat from Skinfolds: Importance of Including Skinfolds from the Thigh and Calf in Young, Healthy Men and Women

Eston, R G, Rowlands, A V, Charlesworth, S, Davies, A, Hoppitt, T·2005·European Journal of Clinical Nutrition
DOI 10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602131
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Objective To investigate the relationship of percent body fat (%fat), assessed by dual energy-X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) or a four-compartment model, with upper body and lower limb skinfolds.Design Cross-sectional design involving forward stepwise and hierarchical multiple regression analyses to assess the relationship of %fat with skinfolds and a combination of four commonly used upper body skinfolds (biceps, triceps, subscapular and iliac crest) with the calf and thigh skinfolds.Setting University research laboratory.Subjects In all, 31 females, mean age 20.9 (+/-2.0) y, and 21 males, mean age 22.3 (+/-5.5) y volunteered for this study, which was approved by the Ethics Committee of the School of Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor.Measurements %fat from DXA in both groups, and %fat from a four-compartment (water, bone mineral mass, fat and residual) model (%fat4C) in females only. Skinfolds were measured at the abdomen, iliac crest, biceps, triceps, subscapular, calf and thigh.Results All skinfolds were positively associated with DXA estimates of %fat (P < 0.01). In males and females, the thigh skinfold had the highest correlation with %fat. This was also observed when %fat4C was used as the criterion in females. Stepwise multiple regression analysis using %fatDXA as the criterion selected the thigh (R(2) = 0.82), calf (R(2) change 0.04) and iliac crest (R(2) change = 0.03) for females, and the thigh (R(2) = 0.79), iliac crest (R(2) change = 0.11) and abdomen (R(2) change = 0.03) for males (all P < 0.01). When %fat4C was used as the criterion in the females, only the thigh was selected as a significant predictor (R(2) = 0.76). Independent prediction factors were created from the sum of biceps, triceps, subscapular and iliac crest (sigma4skf) and from the sum of the thigh and calf (sigmathigh + calf). These factors were then entered into a hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis to predict percent fat. Order of entry was varied to allow the assessment of unique variance accounted for by each predictor. The sum of the thigh and calf explained more variance in %fatDXA than that explained by the sigma4skf alone, irrespective of the order of entry in both males and females. This was also observed when %fat4C was used as the criterion in the females.Conclusions The results of this study confirm that lower body skinfolds are highly related to percent body fat in fit and healthy young men and women, and uphold current recommendations by the British Olympic Association to include the thigh skinfold with sigma4skf. Conventional use of the sigma4skf to estimate percent body fat is significantly enhanced by the inclusion of the thigh and calf skinfolds, either independently or in combination. In this group of males and females, the sum of the thigh and calf skinfolds accounted for the most variance in percent fat.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602131

Cites

39 of 39 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Eston, R. G., Rowlands, A. V., Charlesworth, S., Davies, A., & Hoppitt, T.
Affiliations
  • University of Exeter (GB)
  • Western University (CA)
  • Sheffield Hallam University (GB)
  • University of Birmingham (GB)
Corresponding author
Eston, R G
ORCID
Venue
European Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2005-03-30
Volume
59
Issue
5
Pages
695-702
ISSN
  • 0954-3007 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-5640
DOI
10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602131
OpenAlex
W2014693221
Cited by
89
References
39
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 9
FWCI
2.41
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
Locations
  • European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Adelaide Research & Scholarship (AR&S) (University of Adelaide) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Body Composition Measurement Techniques
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
Keywords
body fat prediction, skinfold thickness, body fat percentage, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, four-compartment model, body composition, young adults, sex differences, regression prediction equations, anthropometry, iliac crest, subscapular skinfold, abdominal skinfold, water displacement method
MeSH terms
Adipose Tissue, Adult, Arm, Body Composition, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Leg, Male, Models, Biological, Predictive Value of Tests, Reference Values, Regression Analysis, Skinfold Thickness, Thigh, Reproducibility of Results, Absorptiometry, Photon

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review