Body composition assessment in American Indian children

Although the high prevalence of obesity in American Indian children was doc umented in several surveys that used body mass index (BMI, in kg/m(2)) as t he measure, there is limited information on more direct measurements of bod y adiposity in this population. The present study evaluated body compositio n in 81 boys (aged 11.2 +/- 0.6 y) and 75 girls (aged 11.0 +/- 0.4 y) atten ding public schools in 6 American Indian communities: White Mountain Apache , Pima, and Tohono O'Odham in Arizona: Oglala Lakota and Sicangu Lakota in South Dakota; and Navajo in New Mexico and Arizona. These communities were participating in the feasibility phase of Pathways, a multicenter intervent ion for the primary prevention of obesity. Body composition was estimated b y using a combination of skinfold thickness and bioelectrical impedance mea surements, with a prediction equation validated previously in this same pop ulation. The mean BMI was 20.4 +/- 4.2 for boys and 21.1 +/- 5.0 for girls. The sum of the triceps plus subscapular skinfold thicknesses averaged 28.6 +/- 7.0 mm in boys and 34.0 +/- 8.0 mm in girls. Mean percentage body fat was 35.6 +/- 6.9 in boys and 38.8 +/- 8.5 in girls. The results from this s tudy confirmed the high prevalence of excess body fatness in school-age Ame rican Indian children and permitted the development of procedures, training , and quality control for measurement of the main outcome variable in the f ull-scale Pathways study. Am J Clin Nutr 1999;69(suppl):764S-6S.