Computation of the Percentage Body Fat in Egyptian Children from Skinfold Thickess Measurement | ||||
| Journal of High Institute of Public Health | ||||
| Article 7, Volume 33, Issue 3, July 2003, Page 507-516 | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/jhiph.2003.194778 | ||||
 View on SCiNiTO | ||||
| Authors | ||||
Mona Aboul-Seoud  1; Abdel-Latif Aboul-Seoud2
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| 1Endocrine Unit, Internal Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria, Egypt | ||||
| 2Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria, Egypt | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| In the course of a study on growth hormone [GH] deficient children, it was found necessary to determine the percent body fat in these children, preferably from skinfold measurements. A number of sets of equations have been developed for this purpose. Slaughter et al derived prediction equations for percent body fat. This method seems very attractive, as it is gender-, and age-specific. Besides, skinfold-thickness measurement is a simple bedside technique. But the application of these equations to a rather big number of children is tedious and time-consuming. With the development and popularization of computers and calculus media, including numerical methods and algorithms, it was thought to develop a computer program, in Qbasic, a software available on all personal computers, to determine the percent body fat from skinfold thickness measurements. This was the aim of the present study. Twenty eight GH deficient children and eleven controls participated in the study. Skinfold thicknesses were measured in triplicate, on the right side of the body, with a Harpenden skinfold caliper, at the triceps, biceps, subscapular and supra-iliac regions. The data were input in the developed computer program, and it was run. Satisfactory percent body fat values were obtained. From the present study it can be concluded that this computer program is easy to use, gives satisfactory results, and saves time, what makes it suitable and useful in epidemiological studies. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Skinfold thickness; percentage body fat; Slaughter et al's prediction equations, computer program | ||||
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Statistics Article View: 54 |
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