Validity assessment of a portable bioimpedance scale to estimate body fat percentage in white and African-American children and adolescents

Abstract

Objective: The objective of the study was to determine accuracy of the Tanita SC-240 body composition analyser to measure paediatric percent body fat (%BF).

Methods: Eighty-nine African-American and white 5-18-year-olds participated in this study. %BF was estimated by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and by the Tanita SC-240.

Results: Overall %BF was 33.5 ± 10.5% (Tanita SC-240) vs. 34.5 ± 8.7% (DXA). There was no significant difference between the two measures (P = 0.52, average error = -1.0%, average absolute error = 3.9%). The Tanita mean %BF estimates significantly differed from the DXA mean %BF in white boys (P = 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.40) and white girls (P = 0.006, Cohen's d = 0.48), but differences were of small effect. No differences in %BF estimates were found for African-American boys or girls.

Conclusions: In this sample, the Tanita SC-240 demonstrated acceptable accuracy for estimating %BF when compared with DXA, supporting its use in field studies.

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist

© 2012 The Authors. Pediatric Obesity © 2012 International Association for the Study of Obesity.

Figures

Figure 1

Bland-Altman plot for error of bioelectrical impedance analysis (Tanita SC-240) versus DXA (Hologic QDR 4500A) to estimate body fat percentage in white and African American children and adolescents. Note. WB = white boys, WG = white girls, AAB = African American boys, AAG = African American girls.