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Assessment of body composition in Sri Lankan children: validation of a bioelectrical impedance prediction equation

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 62, pages 1170–1177 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective:

To develop bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) equations to predict total body water (TBW) and fat-free mass (FFM) of Sri Lankan children.

Subjects/Methods:

Data were collected from 5- to 15-year-old healthy children. They were randomly assigned to validation (M/F: 105/83) and cross-validation (M/F: 53/41) groups. Height, weight and BIA were measured. TBW was assessed using isotope dilution method (D2O). Multiple regression analysis was used to develop preliminary equations and cross-validated on an independent group. Final prediction equation was constructed combining the two groups and validated by PRESS (prediction of sum of squares) statistics. Impedance index (height2/impedance; cm2/Ω), weight and sex code (male=1; female=0) were used as variables.

Results:

Independent variables of the final prediction equation for TBW were able to predict 86.3% of variance with root means-squared error (RMSE) of 2.1 l. PRESS statistics was 2.1 l with press residuals of 1.2 l. Independent variables were able to predict 86.9% of variance of FFM with RMSE of 2.7 kg. PRESS statistics was 2.8 kg with press residuals of 1.4 kg. Bland Altman technique showed that the majority of the residuals were within mean bias±1.96 s.d.

Conclusions:

Results of this study provide BIA equation for the prediction of TBW and FFM in Sri Lankan children. To the best of our knowledge there are no published BIA prediction equations validated on South Asian populations. Results of this study need to be affirmed by more studies on other closely related populations by using multi-component body composition assessment.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to all subjects and their parents for participating in this study. We are also grateful to Dr Samanmali Sumanasena for assistance with data collection.

This study was carried out with the financial support from Children's Nutrition Research Centre, Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health, School of Medicine University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka

    V P Wickramasinghe & S P Lamabadusuriya

  2. Children's Nutrition Research Centre, Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

    G J Cleghorn & P S W Davies

Authors
  1. V P Wickramasinghe
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  2. S P Lamabadusuriya
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  3. G J Cleghorn
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  4. P S W Davies
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Correspondence to P S W Davies.

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Wickramasinghe, V., Lamabadusuriya, S., Cleghorn, G. et al. Assessment of body composition in Sri Lankan children: validation of a bioelectrical impedance prediction equation. Eur J Clin Nutr 62, 1170–1177 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602835

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