Clinical Usefulness of a New Equation for Estimating Body Fat
- Javier Gómez-Ambrosi, PHD1,2⇓,
- Camilo Silva, MD2,3,
- Victoria Catalán, PHD1,2,
- Amaia Rodríguez, PHD1,2,
- Juan Carlos Galofré, MD, PHD3,
- Javier Escalada, MD, PHD2,3,
- Victor Valentí, MD, PHD2,
- Fernando Rotellar, MD, PHD2,
- Sonia Romero, MSC2,3,
- Beatriz Ramírez, MSC1,2,
- Javier Salvador, MD, PHD2,3 and
- Gema Frühbeck, MD, PHD1,2,3
- 1Metabolic Research Laboratory, Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
- 2Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red-Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERobn), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ICSCIII), Girona, Spain
- 3Department of Endocrinology and Nutrition, Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
- Corresponding author: Javier Gómez-Ambrosi, jagomez{at}unav.es.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To assess the predictive capacity of a recently described equation that we have termed CUN-BAE (Clínica Universidad de Navarra-Body Adiposity Estimator) based on BMI, sex, and age for estimating body fat percentage (BF%) and to study its clinical usefulness.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We conducted a comparison study of the developed equation with many other anthropometric indices regarding its correlation with actual BF% in a large cohort of 6,510 white subjects from both sexes (67% female) representing a wide range of ages (18–80 years) and adiposity. Additionally, a validation study in a separate cohort (n = 1,149) and a further analysis of the clinical usefulness of this prediction equation regarding its association with cardiometabolic risk factors (n = 634) was carried out.
RESULTS The mean BF% in the cohort of 6,510 subjects determined by air displacement plethysmography was 39.9 ± 10.1%, and the mean BF% estimated by the CUN-BAE was 39.3 ± 8.9% (SE of the estimate, 4.66%). In this group, BF% calculated with the CUN-BAE showed the highest correlation with actual BF% (r = 0.89, P < 0.000001) compared with other anthropometric measures or BF% estimators. Similar agreement was found in the validation sample. Moreover, BF% estimated by the CUN-BAE exhibits, in general, better correlations with cardiometabolic risk factors than BMI as well as waist circumference in the subset of 634 subjects.
CONCLUSIONS CUN-BAE is an easy-to-apply predictive equation that may be used as a first screening tool in clinical practice. Furthermore, our equation may be a good tool for identifying patients at cardiovascular and type 2 diabetes risk.
- Received July 15, 2011.
- Accepted October 24, 2011.
- © 2012 by the American Diabetes Association.
Readers may use this article as long as the work is properly cited, the use is educational and not for profit, and the work is not altered. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ for details.
