Body adiposity index in Colombian elite athletes: A comparison between the body mass index and other measures

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the correlations between body adiposity index and other adiposity indexes such as body mass index, hip and waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, Σ6 skinfold-thickness and percentage body fat in Colombian elite athletes. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 149 elite athletes from Colombia (mean age: 26.3 ± 6.5 years; height: 169.2 ± 10.1 cm; body mass: 66.1 ± 12.8 kg; body mass index 22.9 ± 3.0 kg m−1). body adiposity index, body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, percentage body fat, Σ6 skinfold-thickness and waist circumference were also measured. Results: To select an optimal surrogate for adiposity, we examined the correlation between body adiposity percentage as measured by BIA and several variables, including body adiposity index, body mass index, Σ6 skinfold-thickness, percentage body fat and waist-to-hip ratio. The regression procedure showed that there was a significant relationship between the body adiposity index and BF% (R2 = 0.407, p < 0.01). Bland–Altman plot showed that the limits of agreement (95% confidence intervals) between the BF% and body adiposity index ranged between 15.53 and 2.26%, and there was a significant positive association between the difference and mean of the 2 methods (rho = 0.607, p < 0.01). Conclusion: The adiposity indexes that include the percentage body fat and body adiposity index could be used as indicators to evaluate the corporal composition in both sport practice and research.