Usefulness of relative fat mass in estimating body adiposity in Korean adult population

Abstract

Various indicators have been suggested as replacements of body mass index (BMI) for estimating body fat percentage, including the recently introduced relative fat mass (RFM). However, RFM has not been assessed in different ethnicities; therefore, we evaluated whether RFM can be used to estimate body fat percentage in Korean adults and whether RFM is a useful indicator of obesity. Based on the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2008-2011, we analyzed a total of 18,706 individuals (7,970 men, 10,643 women) aged ≥20 years who underwent dualenergy X-ray absorptiometry. We compared obesity (body fat ≥25% for men, 35% for women) misclassification rate of RFM (≥25 for men, 35 for women) and BMI (≥25 kg/m 2). Diagnostic accuracy and optimal cutoffs of BMI and RFM were verified by comparing area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). RFM and BMI misclassification rates were similar obesity diagnosis based on body fat percentage (27.9% vs. 27.8%) among men. RFM misclassification rate was lower than that of BMI (22% vs. 45%) in women. AUC of RFM was higher in men (AUC: 0.79 vs. 0.78; p = 0.004) and lower in women (AUC: 0.80 vs. 0.83) than those of BMI (p < 0.001). In this study, RFM showed diagnostic accuracy for detecting excess body fat percentage, comparable to that of BMI. Using RFM with BMI could be beneficial in improving the diagnostic accuracy of obesity assessment in women.

Trunk Fat Estimation According To Gender In Childhood Through Basic Somatic Readings. An Opportunity for Improving Girl’S Evaluation

“…The novelty of this estimator is the sex consideration that decreases the rate of misclassi cation of relative fat mass with a more precise diagnosis of obesity/ adiposity in females. This equation has been tested in other parts of the world (43,44) in adult populations but also in adolescents (45). In our study the initial correlation to BMI as the major standard criterion for overweight and obesity classi cation, was signi cant, clearly in the whole sample and Normal weight groups, but in Overweight and Obese ones the degree of correlation slightly decreased, in agreement with the next multiple regression comment.…”

Estimating trunk fat in children according to sex using basic somatic readings: an opportunity for improving evaluation among girls

“…The novelty of this estimator is the sex consideration, which decreases the rate of misclassification of relative fat mass due to a more precise diagnosis of obesity/adiposity in females. This equation has been tested in other parts of the world [50,51] in adult populations and in adolescents [52]. In our study, the initial correlation with BMI as the major standard criterion for overweight and obesity classification was significant in the whole sample and normal weight groups, but in the overweight and obese groups, the degree of correlation slightly decreased, which was in agreement with the next multiple regression finding.…”

Is relative fat mass (RFM) a better indicator of high blood pressure levels when compared to other anthropometric indexes?

“…Among the few studies found, RFM was not able to overcome WC and WHR in predicting the risk of general mortality in a population-based cohort, and the authors highlighted that RFM can be a good tool to estimate body adiposity percentage, not being better than methods already established in the literature (27). In another study conducted in a Korean population to validate the diagnostic capacity of RFM as an indicator of body adiposity percentage, it was observed that the accuracy of this index is comparable to BMI, but RFM presented an incorrect classification rate lower than BMI for women (26). These data, as well as the results of our study, indicate that RFM seems to be able to estimate body adiposity percentage and, consequently, its association with CVD, but it does not seem to be better than other already consolidated indicators.…”