Measurement of body fat in Turner syndrome

Fourteen individuals with the Turner syndrome (gonadal dysgenesis with X chromosome chromosome abnormalities) were evaluated for obesity using hydrostatic weighing and skinfold measurements. While skinfold estimates of body fat correlated well with clinical impression, hydrostatic weighing appeared to falsely overestimate percent body fat. We suggest that reduced skeletal mass and/or occult lymphedema in Turner syndrome may invalidate the formula used to calculate percent body fat derived from hydrostatic weights. In this population and possibly in other disorders where skeletal mass is reduced from the normal, the use of hydrostatic weighing may be inappropriate.