Anthropometry-Based Prediction Equation of Body Composition in a Population Aged 12-88 Years.

BACKGROUND: Direct anthropometric measurements to assess body composition have limited precision and/or specificity. OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to develop a prediction equation based on anthropometric measurements for estimating total body water (TBW) in a healthy population. METHODS: TBW was assessed using the deuterium dilution method in 398 Moroccan participants (235 women and 163 men) aged 11.6-88 y, then compared to the estimations made by previously published anthropometric equations. By sex, participants were randomly assigned into development (n = 199) and validation subgroups (n = 199). A new anthropometric equation was developed in the development subgroup from data obtained on body volume (BV), weight, and sex, where the BV was calculated from participants' height. Then the equation was validated in the validation subgroup using the Bland and Altman procedure, bias, and pure error. External validation was performed using a sample from Tunisia (n = 220, 51.8% female, 18-65 y). RESULTS: Bias in predicting TBW showed unacceptable value for all previously published equations as it was significantly overestimated. The following new equation using anthropometric measurements [TBW (kg) = -5.249 + 107.502 BV (L) + 0.289 weight (kg) + 2.015 sex (male: 1, female: 0); (R2 = 0.91, RMSE = 1.885 kg)] was developed, and its internal validation was confirmed. The generated bias and pure error values were 0.047 kg (95% CI: -0.235, 0.330) and 2.02 kg (95% CI: 1.73, 2.31), respectively. The external validation of the new TBW prediction equation on a Tunisian sample showed a bias and pure error values of 0.07 kg (95% CI: -0.289, 0.429) and 2.36 kg, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that the new anthropometric-based prediction equation provides a good estimation of TBW and other body composition compartments. It could be recommended as an alternative method to assess body composition for epidemiological and clinical studies.

A double burden of overall or central adiposity and anemia or iron deficiency is prevalent but with little socioeconomic patterning among Moroccan and Tunisian urban women.

In North Africa, overnutrition has dramatically increased with the nutrition transition while micronutrient deficiencies persist, resulting in clustering of opposite types of malnutrition that can present a unique difficulty for public health interventions. We assessed the magnitude of the double burden of malnutrition among urban Moroccan and Tunisian women, as defined by the coexistence of overall or central adiposity and anemia or iron deficiency (ID), and explored the sociodemographic patterning of individual double burden. In cross-sectional surveys representative of the region around the capital city, we randomly selected 811 and 1689 nonpregnant women aged 20-49 y in Morocco and Tunisia, respectively. Four double burdens were analyzed: overweight (body mass index ≥25 kg/m(2)) or increased risk abdominal obesity (waist circumference ≥80 cm) and anemia (blood hemoglobin <120 g/L) or ID (C-reactive protein-corrected serum ferritin <15 µg/L). Adjusted associations with 9 sociodemographic factors were estimated by logistic regression. The prevalence of overweight and ID was 67.0% and 45.2% in Morocco, respectively, and 69.5% and 27.0% in Tunisia, respectively, illustrating the population-level double burden. The coexistence of overall or central adiposity with ID was found in 29.8% and 30.1% of women in Morocco, respectively, and in 18.2% and 18.3% of women in Tunisia, respectively, quite evenly distributed across age, economic, or education groups. Generally, the rare, associated sociodemographic factors varied across the 4 subject-level double burdens and the 2 countries and differed from those usually associated with adiposity, anemia, or ID. Any double burden combining adiposity and anemia or ID should therefore be taken into consideration in all women. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01844349.