Prediction of percent body fat in adult men using ultrasonic and anthropometric measurements versus dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to verify the accuracy of a portable ultrasound device associated to anthropometric measurements using a reference method, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) for estimate body fat (BF) and body fat percentage (BF%) in adult male.METHODS: A total of 63 subjects (18-60 years) participated for this analysis. Patients were voluntarily selected through a high variability in body mass index (BMI) and total BF. A cross-validation between ultrasound and anthropometric predictors of BF% was performed on 35 males in this study.The present study was to conduct and validate generalized prediction equation for total BF% using the combination of ultrasonic and anthropometric measurements versus DXA in a sample of French men with a large variability of BF%. We verified the accuracy of our ultrasonic measurements by performing an umbilical MRI at the same subcutaneous fat thickness. We developed a multiple regression model of BF and BF% estimate from ultrasound and anthropometric dimensions using the DXA reference method.RESULTS: BF% estimates was strongly correlated with BF% DXA on 63 males (R2 =0.86, SEE=2.8%). A cross-validation study performed on 35 males showed again a high correlation (R2=0.86, SEE=2.9%) between BF% DXA and BF% estimate. The 95% limit of agreement with individual differences are [-5.1%; +5.7%].CONCLUSIONS: Ultrasonic and anthropometric measurements are both accurate techniques to estimate BF%. Our results suggest that this ultrasound technique should be easy to use in epidemiologic studies.