Abdominal Circumference As A Tool To Evaluate Abdominal Fat In Morphophysiological Assessment Of Military Firefighters

PURPOSE: The Military Fire Brigade of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FDRJ) is constituted for men and women who need good physical skills related to health to serve society. In this regard, BMI (Body Mass Index) is considered an acceptable anthropometric tool to verify obesity that is ranged in lean (<18.5 Kg/m2), normal (18.5 Kg/m2 to 24.9 Kg/m2), overweight (≥25.0 Kg/m2 to 29.9 Kg/m2), obesity I (≥30 Kg/m2 to 34.9 Kg/m2), obesity II - severe (≥35 Kg/m2 to 39.9 Kg/m2) and obesity III - morbid (≥40 Kg/m2). BMI is correlated with several gold-standard measures of body fat (bioelectrical impedance, underwater weighing, DEXA). However, higher BMI is inaccurate to measure body fat and risk of obesity since it does not consider muscle mass, general composition, bone density, sexual and racial differences. In this context, correlation between BMI and Abdominal Circumference (AC) is not established. In this vein, the literature shows that AC >102 for men and > 88 for women is predictive of the onset of metabolic diseases and mortality due to the deposition of adipose tissue in this region. Objectives: The objective was to correlate BMI, Total Body Mass (TCM) and AC. METHODS: Materials and methods: A total of 3,275 males (36.14 ± 9.73 years) and 146 females (34.70 ± 11.17 years) from the FDRJ participated in the study. Total Body Mass (TCM), BMI and AC were analyzed using a measuring tape, digital scale and an stadiometer. RESULTS: Men had MCT of 83.37 ± 13.25Kg (Coefficient of Variation-CV: 15.89%), BMI of 27.14 ± 3.79 (CV: 13.96%), AC of 92.39 ± 10.84 cm (CV: 11.73%); and the correlation between BMI and AC was: r = 0.78; R2 = 0.60; p = 0.001. Women had MCT of 66.53 ± 10.47Kg (CV: 15.73%), BMI of 24.59 ± 3.52 (CV:14.30%); AC of 81.24 ± 10.65 cm (CV 13.10%); and the correlation between BMI and AC was r = 0.75, R2 = 0.57; p = 0.001. CONCLUSIONS: We showed that AC is an anthropometric tool of low cost to evaluate abdominal fat. Our data indicate that correlation between BMI and AC was efficient to associate with abdominal fat during morphophysiological assessment of firefighters. These results contribute to predict accumulation of visceral fat and possible association with obesity-associated chronic diseases onset in firefighters, which can lead to absenteeism.