Effects of clothing on accuracy and reliability of air displacement plethysmography.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this investigation was to quantify the effects of different attire on the accuracy and reliability of estimating percent body fat (%fat) by using air displacement plethysmography (ADP).


METHODS
Fifteen adults were tested four times on four separate occasions. Each session consisted of estimating %fat with ADP wearing a swimsuit (ADP(SS)), a hospital gown (ADP(HG)), and in the nude (ADP(N)), plus assessment by hydrostatic weighing (HW).


RESULTS
An ANOVA revealed no significant differences within any of the four methods over the 4 days. Intraclass correlation coefficients revealed a strong relationship for repeated measures in ADP(SS) (r = 0.981), ADP(HG) (r = 0.993), ADP(N) (r = 0.989), and HW (r = 0.976). Mean data for each condition indicated a significant underestimation (P < 0.05) of %fat while wearing a hospital gown (13.8 +/- 7.7%) compared with ADP(SS) (22.0 +/- 7.8%), ADP(N) (23.5 +/- 7.5%), and HW (22.6 +/- 6.8%).


CONCLUSIONS
Reliability of ADP does not appear to be compromised by clothing; however, wearing a hospital gown significantly affects accuracy, reducing %fat estimations by approximately 9% compared with the recommended swimsuit. Measurement in the nude does not provide more reliable or accurate measures than wearing a swimsuit.
Vescovi
Jason D
JD
The George Washington University Medical Center, School of Public Health and Health Services, Exercise Science Programs, Washington, DC 20052, USA. vescovji@aol.com
Zimmerman
Shannon L
SL
Miller
Wayne C
WC
Fernhall
Bo
B
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000388:Air; D001823:Body Composition; D001835:Body Weight; D003020:Clothing; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006874:Hydrostatic Pressure; D008297:Male; D010991:Plethysmography / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards*; D010993:Plethysmography, Whole Body / Q000592:standards; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity