Prediction of visceral adipose tissue from simple anthropometric measurements in youths with obesity

Objective: Although visceral adipose tissue (VAT) is the component of body composition most highly associated with cardiovascular risk factors, its me asurement requires expensive procedures, such as magnetic resonance imaging . This study examined the ability of simple demographic and anthropometric measurements to predict magnetic resonance imaging-derived VAT in 76 appare ntly healthy, black and white youths with obesity who were 7 years to 16 ye ars of age. Research Methods and Procedures: Stepwise multiple Linear regression was us ed to develop a prediction equation for VAT based on 13 simple anthropometr ic variables (height, weight, body mass index, triceps skinfold, calf skinf old, sagittal diameter, waist circumference, hip circumference, thigh circu mference, waist/hip ratio, waist/thigh ratio, sagittal diameter/thigh ratio , and percent body fat from the sum of calf and triceps skinfolds) and thre e demographic variables (age, gender and ethnicity). Results: The stepwise multiple regression procedure yielded a final model t hat included two anthropometric variables (sagittal diameter and waist/hip ratio) and one demographic variable (ethnicity). The prediction equation wa s: VAT=-124.06+16.67 (ethnicity)+4.15 (sagittal diameter)+100.89 (waist/hip ratio), where ethnicity was coded as 0 = black and 1 = white. The model ex plained 63% of the variance in VAT and was associated with a measurement er ror of 23.9%. Discussion: Although the model seems to lack sufficient explanatory power f or routine use in clinical settings with individual patients, it may have s ome utility in epidemiological studies given its relatively small (<25%) st andard error of estimate.