Use of skinfold thickness for estimation of body fat
Berry, J.N.
Indian Journal of Medical Research 62(2): 233-239
1974
ISSN/ISBN: 0019-5340 PMID: 4442965 Document Number: 82106
All 2030 persons above the age of 30 years living in Chandigarh, of whom 672 were women, were examined. In another survey, 1000 male students of 18 to 28 years were examined. If triceps skin-fold thickness alone had been used to estimate obesity, 82.5% of the 160 obese men and 23.1% of the 108 obese women would not have been classed as obese. The median suprailiac, tricipital and infrascapular skin-fold thicknesses were 10.3, 8.2 and 5.3 mm in young men; 12.2, 10.2 and 7.7 mm in men of 41 to 50 years and 23.7, 20.4 and 14.9 mm in women of 41 to 50 years. Middle-age spread affected the waist more than the limbs in men. Tricipital skin fold was the thickest in more than 50% of all women and infrascapular fold was the thickest in 38% of obese women and in 43% of all women. Skin folds should be measured at all 3 sites for estimation of body fat.