Abstract

Body composition (BC) assessment is often conducted using one of several different field techniques, which individually are considered valid tests. Anecdotal evidence has suggested, however, that some individuals may rank relatively high when assessed by one method and relatively low when assessed by another method. This inconsistency would indicate that BC assessments have poor convergent validity. The purpose of this study was to examine the convergent validity of common BC assessments using a norm-referenced approach. A total of 67 college students participated in this measurement study and had their BC assessed by each of three different tests: percent body fat (PBF) by skinfold technique (PBFSF), waist circumference (WC), and body mass index (BMI). Two different statistical procedures were used to evaluate convergent validity of the three BC assessments. First, Cohen’s weighted kappas were calculated using quartiles of each BC measure. This analysis utilized three different 4 x 4 tables from all BC measure pairs. Second, Bland and Altman limits of agreement (LOA) plots were constructed on all pairs after T-score transformation of each measure. Mean (SD) values of PBFSF (%), WC (cm), and BMI (kg/m2) were 12.3 (5.0), 87.0 (8.3), 26.8 (3.5) and 23.3 (7.0), 77.1 (8.8), 24.8 (3.2) for males and females, respectively. Simple kappas showed poor agreement across the three pairs of BC assessments and ranged from .14 to .17. The weighted kappas improved to fair agreement and ranged from .32 to .38. None of the three LOA plots showed systematic bias toward a method. However, 95% LOA were wide for PBFSF vs. WC (± 28.9), BMI vs. PBFSF (± 25.9), and BMI vs. WC (± 12.3). Results of this measurement study indicate that common BC assessments have poor convergent validity among college students. These results further indicate that BC may be a multidimensional trait, requiring a specific test depending on the specific trait of interest.

Keywords

Body Composition, Measurement, Health-Related Fitness, Percent Body Fat,

References

  1. American College of Sports Medicine, editor. ACSM's health-related physical fitness assessment manual, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2013 Jan 21.
  2. World Health Organization (WHO. Obesity and Overweight factsheet from the WHO. Health. 2017 Oct 24.
  3. J.C. Seidell, J. Halberstadt, The global burden of obesity and the challenges of prevention, Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism, 66 (2015) 7-12.
  4. W.J. Kraemer, S.J. Fleck, M.R. Deschenes, Exercise physiology: integrating theory and application, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2011 Mar 1.
  5. W.D. McArdle, F.I. Katch, & V.L. Katch, (2010). Exercise physiology: nutrition, energy, and human performance. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
  6. A. Aandstad, K. Holtberget, R. Hageberg, I. Holme, & S.A. Anderssen, Validity and reliability of bioelectrical impedance analysis and skinfold thickness in predicting body fat in military personnel, Military Medicine, 179 (2014) 208-217.
  7. J.R. Morrow Jr, D. Mood, J. Disch, M. Kang, Measurement and Evaluation in Human Performance, 5th Edition, Human Kinetics; 2015 Aug 25.
  8. American College of Sports Medicine. (2013). ACSM's guidelines for exercise testing and prescription. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
  9. J.L. Fleiss, B. Levin, & M.C. Paik, (2013). Statistical methods for rates and proportions. John Wiley & Sons.
  10. J. Cohen, Weighted kappa: Nominal scale agreement provision for scaled disagreement or partial credit, Psychological Bulletin, 70 (1968) 213-220.
  11. J.M. Bland, & D. Altman, Statistical methods for assessing agreement between two methods of clinical measurement. The Lancet, 327 (1986) 307-310.
  12. R.P. Cody & J.K. Smith, (2006), Applied statistics and the SAS programming language. 5th Edition. Pearson.
  13. J. Nanayakkara & S. Lekamwasam, Validity of BMI, hip and waist circumferences as surrogate measures of obesity in a cohort of Sri Lankan premenopausal women, Ceylon Medical Journal, 58 (2013) 72–75.
  14. I. Eriks-Hoogland, R. Hilfiker, M. Baumberger, S. Balk, G. Stucki, C. Perret, Clinical assessment of obesity in persons with spinal cord injury: validity of waist circumference, body mass index, and anthropometric index, The Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine, 34 (2014) 416-422.
  15. V.P. Wickramasinghe, C. Arambepola, D.M. Bandara, M. Abeysekera, S. Kuruppu, P. Dilshan, B.S. Dissanayake, Validity of newlydeveloped BMI and waist cut-off values for Sri Lankan children, Annals of Human Biology, 40 (2013) 280-285.
  16. N. Singhal, P. Mathur, R. Pathak, Validity of simple, novel measures of generalized and central obesity among young Asian Indian women, Indian Journal of Medical Sciences 65 (2011) 518-527.
  17. P.A. McAuley, P.F. Kokkinos, R.B. Oliveira, B.T. Emerson, J.N. Myers, Obesity paradox and cardiorespiratory fitness in 12,417 male veterans aged 40 to 70 years, Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 85 (2010) 115-121.
  18. P. Raven, D. Wasserman, W. Squires, T. Murray, Exercise Physiology, Nelson Education; 2012.