Ponghaiyakul et al developed several equations for estimating the percentage body fat in adults living in rural Thailand. The authors are from Khon Kaen University.
Subjects: adults from rural Thailand from 20 to 84 years of age
The reference body fat percent was determined by a DXA scan.
Parameters:
(1) body height in meters
(2) body weight in kilograms
(3) age in years
(4) gender (1 if male, 0 if female)
(5) waist circumference in cm
(6) hip circumference in cm
(7) subscapular skinfold thickness in mm
(8) biceps skinfold thickness in mm
(9) suprailiac skinfold thickness in mm
body mass index in kg per square meter =
= (body weight in kilograms) / ((body height in meters)^2)
percent body fat =
= (1.65 * (BMI)) + (0.06 * (age in years)) - (15.3 * (points for gender)) - 10.67
percent body fat if male =
= (0.62 * (BMI)) + (0.17 * (waist circumference)) + (0.42 * (subscapular skinfold)) - (0.28 * (biceps skinfold)) - 18.47
percent body fat if female =
= (0.46 * (BMI)) + (0.42 * (hip circumference)) + (0.17 * (suprailiac skinfold)) - 23.75
Limitations:
• Great care has to be taken to take skinfold measurements in a standardized manner.
Performance:
• R-squared was 0.83 for the first equation which is also the simplest.
• R-squared was 0.68 for the second and third equations.
