A Comparison Study of Portable Foot-to-Foot Bioelectrical Impedance Scale to Measure Body Fat Percentage in Asian Adults and Children

To compare the measurements of body fat percentage (BF%) using the foot-to-foot bioelectrical impedance analysis (FTF-BIA) with the direct segmental multifrequency BIA (DSM-BIA). Methods. There were 36 men and 52 women ( 37.1 ± 14.3 years) with 57% Malays, 30% Chinese, and 13% Indian. For children, there were 45 boys and 26 girls ( 11.5 ± 2.5 years) with 52% Malay, 15% Chinese, and 33% Indian. Results. Mean height for men was 168.4 cm, 11 cm taller than women. Men were 10 kg heavier than women at 70 kg. BF% in women was 32% and 33% whereas BF% in men was 23% and 25% when measured using FTF-BIA and DSM-BIA, respectively. In children, BF% measured with FTF-BIA and DSM-BIA was 49% and 46%, respectively. The correlations were significant for men ( r = 0.92 , SEE = 2.80), women ( r = 0.91 , SEE = 3.31), boys ( r = 0.95 , SEE = 5.44), and girls ( r = 0.96 , SEE = 5.27). The BF% in underweight/normal ( r = 0.92 , SEE = 2.47) and that in overweight/obese adults ( r = 0.89 , SEE = 3.61) were strongly correlated. The correlations were significant in normal/underweight ( r = 0.94 , SEE = 3.78) and obese/overweight children ( r = 0.83 , SEE = 6.49). All ethnic groups showed significant correlation with BF%. Malay adults ( r = 0.92 , SEE = 3.27) and children ( r = 0.94 , SEE = 0.88) showed significant mean differences in BF%. Conclusion. The FTF-BIA showed higher accuracy for all normal/underweight and Chinese group with acceptable overestimation in children and underestimation in adults. Caution should be taken when interpreting BF% depending on gender, BMI, and ethnicity.