Relación entre pliegues cutáneos y el porcentaje de grasa total estimado por impedancia bioeléctrica en población adulta en comunas de la región de ñuble, Chile

Introduction: Skinfolds are used to indirectly estimate body composition, obtaining the percentage of fat as a result. There is evidence of correlations ranging from 0.6 to 0.8 between skinfolds and the estimate of body fat obtained by bioelectrical impedance. However, within the last five years, only one study has been published in a sample of Mexican students. Objective: To relate bicipital, tricipital, subcutaneous, and suprailiac skinfolds with the percentage of total body fat estimated by bioelectrical impedance. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted in a sample of 100 adults aged 19-59 years. Anthropometric measurements (including measurement of the four skinfolds) and electrical bioimpedance were applied with a Seca 525 device. Pearson or Spearman coefficients were applied (after diagnosing data normality with the Shapiro-Wilk test). The R-Studio package was applied. Results: It was evident that the bicipital skinfold has a greater correlation (r = 0.84, p < 0.01) with the fat mass estimated with electrical bioimpedance. However, when differentiated by sex, the subscapular skinfold showed different correlations (r = 0.79 in women and r = 0.87 for men, both with p < 0.01). Discussion: The results are consistent with the consulted literature, validating its use to estimate body fat. Conclusion: The bicipital and subscapular skinfolds have a greater correlation with the percentage of fat when considering factors such as sex and level of physical activity, allowing the development of new predictive equations.