Concordance of BAI and BMI with DXA in the Newfoundland population

Abstract

Background: Body adiposity index (BAI), indirect method proposed to predict adiposity, was developed using Mexican Americans and very little data are available regarding its validation in Caucasian populations to date.

Objective: The study objectives were to validate the BAI with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) body fat percentage (%BF), taking into consideration the gender and adiposity status.

Design and methods: A total of 2,601 subjects (Male 662, Female 1939) from our Complex Diseases in the Newfoundland population: Environment and Genetics (CODING) study participated in this investigation. Pearson correlations, with the entire cohort along with men and women separately, were used to compare the correlation of both BAI and BMI with %BF. Additionally, the concordance between BAI and BMI with %BF were also performed among normal-weight (NW), overweight (OW), and obese (OB) groups. Adiposity status was determined by the Bray Criteria according to DXA %BF.

Results: BAI performs better than BMI in our Caucasian population by: (1) reflecting the gender difference in total %BF between women and men, (2) correlating better with DXA %BF than BMI when women and men are combined, and (3) performing better in NW and OW subjects for both the sexes. However, BAI performs less effectively than BMI in OB men and women.

Conclusion: In summary, the BAI method is a better estimate of adiposity than BMI in non-OB subjects in our Caucasian population. A measurement sensitive to the changes in adiposity for both men and women is suggested to be incorporated into the present BAI equation to increase accuracy.