Investigate ethnic differences in body composition and whether the measurements from bioelectrical impedance and Bod-Pod are similarly correlated in each ethnic group.

Abstract

Background: The accurate estimation of total body fat percentages by body composition techniques among ethnicities of South Asian (SA), White European (WE), and Black African-Caribbean (BAC); particularly adults and comparing them is fairly unknown. Objective: This project aims to investigate and compare the accurate approaches for total body fat evaluations in three different ethnic backgrounds by using bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) and air displacement plethysmography (ADP). Designs and methods: A cross-sectional study of university students included thirty participants, ten in each group of SA, WE, and BAC. Body fat percentage (BF%) was evaluated by BIA and ADP. Anthropometric measurements consisted of body mass index (BMI), body weight (kg), height (cm), waist circumferences (WC), hip circumferences (HC), and waist-hip ratio (WHR) were reported. ANOVA test was used to compare BF% methods between ethnicities, further supported by the post hoc analysis. The Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests to identify the significant differences in BF% techniques. The Spearman’s correlation to figure out the association of BF% methods in ethnicity. International physical activity questionnaires (IPAQ) were obtained by IQR. Result: The one-way ANOVA revealed that there was no significant variation in BF% as measured by BIA between different ethnic groups. The p-value obtained was 0.213. The ADP p-value of 0.008 indicates a statistically significant difference, with only a 0.8% probability of occurring by chance. The post hoc analysis showed that the p-values for BF% obtained from BIA were 0.256, while the p-values for BF% obtained from ADP were 0.087 and 0.506. These results indicate that there is no substantial distinction in BF% between the two techniques in the sample. The variances of BF% calculated by the Kruskal-Wallis test show that the BIA p-value of 0.109 is relatively consistent, while the ADP p-value of 0.017 is possibly affected, especially in contrast with SA and BAC, where the p-values are 0.023 and 0.011, respectively. Spearman’s correlation coefficient (rho). In SA (-0.213; p-value 0.555), WE (-.0106; p-value 0.770), and BAC (-0.175; p-value 0.629), There is no strong evidence linking BF% methods and ethnic groups. The interquartile range (IQR) for physical activity among the study participants from SAs is: 25th (Q1) = 0.00 and 75th (Q3) =346.50, reporting no physical activity among SAs. Conclusion: ADP showed more discernment in identifying disparities, especially between those of South Asians and individuals of African descent. Tanita failed to identify any substantial overall differences, reflecting the natural variety of methods used to estimate body fat percentage. There is not sufficient data to establish a substantial correlation between body fat assessment methods and different ethnicities.