Estimates of percentage body fat in young adolescents: a comparison of dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and air displacement plethysmography

Objective : To evaluate the accuracy of percentage body fat (%fat) estimates from air displacement plethysmography (ADP) against an increasingly recognised criterion method, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), in young adolescents. Design : Cross-sectional evaluation. Setting : Leeds General Infirmary, Centre for Bone and Body Composition Research, Leeds, UK. Subjects : In all, 28 adolescents (12 males and 16 females), age (mean±s.d.) 14.9±0.5 y, body mass index 21.2±2.9 kg/m 2 and body fat (DXA) 24.2±10.2% were assessed. Results : ADP estimates of %fat were highly correlated with those of DXA in both male and female subjects ( r =0.84–0.95, all P