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Updated: Jun 18, 2026

Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
Abdominal fat assessment in adolescents using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry
Tracey W Tsang1, Julie Briody, Michael Kohn
1Exercise, Health & Performance Faculty Research Group, Faculty of Health Science, The University of Sydney, Australia. Tracey.Tsang@unsw.edu.au
Background:
Abdominal obesity is an increasing problem in adolescents, often persisting into adulthood. Reliable assessment has been restricted to techniques limited by relatively high radiation doses or cost.
Aim:
To investigate the reliability of several abdominal regions using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), and to assess the construct validity of these methods against metabolic profile.
Methods:
Inter- and intra-rater precision of two assessors were examined, for fat mass analysis in six different abdominal regions using DXA in overweight/obese and normal weight adolescents. Construct validity was examined in overweight/obese individuals.
Results:
All methods had acceptable intra- and inter-rater reliability. Region 1 was most precise in overweight/obese individuals, while Region 6 was most precise in normal weight individuals. In all regions, assessments were less precise in overweight/obese individuals. All regions were equally predictive of insulin outcomes.
Conclusions:
Abdominal adiposity can be reliably assessed in adolescents using DXA, and the most precisely assessed regions were identified. All regions predicted insulin outcomes.
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