Testing the concurrent validity and reliability of a lipowise digital skinfold caliper to assess muscle mass in healthy young adults
César Leão,
Filipe Manuel Clemente,
Bruno Silva,
Joel Pereira,
Georgian Badicu,
Miguel Camões,
José Maria Cancela
Affiliations
César Leão
University of Vigo, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Sports Sciences, 36005 Pontevedra, Spain; Escola Superior Desporto e Lazer, Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Rua Escola Industrial e Comercial de Nun’Álvares, 4900-347 Viana do Castelo, Portugal; Research Center in Sports Performance, Recreation, Innovation and Technology (SPRINT), 4960-320 Melgaço, Portugal
Filipe Manuel Clemente
Escola Superior Desporto e Lazer, Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Rua Escola Industrial e Comercial de Nun’Álvares, 4900-347 Viana do Castelo, Portugal; Instituto de Telecomunicações, Delegação da Covilhã, Lisboa 1049-001, Portugal
Bruno Silva
Escola Superior Desporto e Lazer, Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Rua Escola Industrial e Comercial de Nun’Álvares, 4900-347 Viana do Castelo, Portugal; Research Center in Sports Performance, Recreation, Innovation and Technology (SPRINT), 4960-320 Melgaço, Portugal
Joel Pereira
Escola Superior Desporto e Lazer, Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Rua Escola Industrial e Comercial de Nun’Álvares, 4900-347 Viana do Castelo, Portugal; Research Center in Sports Performance, Recreation, Innovation and Technology (SPRINT), 4960-320 Melgaço, Portugal
Georgian Badicu
Department of Physical Education and Special Motricity, Faculty of Physical Education and Mountain Sports, Transilvania University of Braşov, 500068 Braşov, Romania; Corresponding author.
Miguel Camões
Escola Superior Desporto e Lazer, Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Rua Escola Industrial e Comercial de Nun’Álvares, 4900-347 Viana do Castelo, Portugal; Research Center in Sports Performance, Recreation, Innovation and Technology (SPRINT), 4960-320 Melgaço, Portugal
José Maria Cancela
University of Vigo, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Sports Sciences, 36005 Pontevedra, Spain
The aim of this study was to assess the validity and reliability of a novel tool to assess skinfolds and to compare the muscle mass measured through dual-x-ray-absorptiometry (DXA) and estimated using the Lee equation from the values of the skinfolds and girths in a healthy young adult population. Methods: The present study followed a cross-sectional design, including 38 participants, with 27 males (22.04 ± 5.20 years) and 11 females (21.55 ± 2.39 years). The measurement protocol included a DXA evaluation, basic measurements of body mass and stature, eight skinfolds with two skinfold calipers of different brands (Harpenden and Lipowise), and three girths. The order in which the skinfold calipers were used was randomized. The muscle mass was then calculated using the formula established by Lee et al. Results: No significant differences were found between the two skinfold calipers considering all the outcomes (p > 0.05). The correlation coefficients were between 0.724 and 0.991, which suggest very-large to nearly perfect correlations. The correlations performed revealed that muscle mass estimated from DXA is nearly perfectly correlated with both muscle mass estimated from the data obtained with the Harpenden skinfold caliper (r = 0.955) and muscle mass estimated from the data obtained with the Lipowise skinfold caliper (r = 0.954). From the results, we conclude that Lipowise caliper is an accurate skinfold caliper and it can be an alternative tool for the technician that need to assess body fat or muscle mass in precise, valid and time efficient evaluation. It should be noted that the caution to use skinfold calipers interchangeable with each other when evaluating skinfolds remains a necessity and is advisable to perform the measurements with the same brand and model of skinfold caliper when the purpose is to perform follow-up assessments.
