Has better correlation with cardiometabolic risk factors than BMI, other anthropometric measures
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 28 (HealthDay News) -- A new prediction equation estimates body fat percentage (BF%) in adults with a low error rate and acceptable accuracy and may be a good first-screening tool for identifying patients at cardiovascular and type 2 diabetes risk, according to research published online Dec. 16 in Diabetes Care.
Javier Gómez-Ambrosi, Ph.D., from the Clínica Universidad de Navarra in Pamploma, Spain, and colleagues conducted a comparison study of their Clínica Universidad de Navarra-Body Adiposity Estimator (CUN-BAE) equation with many other anthropometric indices regarding its correlation with actual BF% in 6,510 white subjects from both sexes (67 percent female), representing a wide range of ages (18 to 80 years) and adiposity. A validation study in a separate cohort of 634 subjects was also conducted to analyze the equation's usefulness regarding cardiometabolic risk factors.
According to the researchers, the correlation of CUN-BAE with actual BF% was significantly higher than that of any other anthropometric variables or BF% estimators. The CUN-BAE-estimated BF% also demonstrated better correlations with cardiometabolic risk factors than either body mass index (BMI) or waist circumference in the subset of 634 subjects.
"In summary, because the possibility of measuring BF% is not always available and the relation between BMI and BF% is highly dependent on sex and age, we have developed and validated an easy-to-apply predictive equation that may be used as a first-screening tool in medical practice," the authors write. "Furthermore, our equation may be a useful clinical tool for identifying patients with increased cardiovascular and type 2 diabetes risk."
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