title: Four-site skinfolds and body fat percentage references in 6-to-17-year old Turkish children and adolescents.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  As skinfolds from four-sites (triceps, biceps, subscapular, suprailiac) and body fat percentage in 6-17 years is lacking in Turkey. This study was undertaken to produce references for four-site skinfolds and body fat percentage in children and adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  The cross-sectional study was conducted between September 2007-May 2008 in Kayseri, Turkey, after approval by ethics committee of Erciyes University and local educational authority. Data were obtained from the Determination of Anthropometric Measures of Turkish Children and Adolescents Study-II. Using multistage sampling method, 4285 children were selected from the schools representing city centre, rural and urban areas of the province. Skinfolds were measured from four sites and body fat percentage was calculated according to Westrate and Deurenberg equation. LMS Chart Maker Pro version 2.3 software was used to obtain skinfold references.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 1914 (44.6%) boys, 2371 (55.3%) girls in the study; the age range being 6-17 years. The peripheral skinfolds increased with age for girls (7.2 mm at age 10 versus 8.7 mm at age 17), while this was true for boys until 10 years (6.2 mm at age 10 versus 4.2 mm at age 17) after which the values gradually decreased. In terms of central skinfolds, girls had higher numbers in each age (11.7 mm for boys versus 12.8 mm for girls at age 6; 24.9 mm versus 26.3 mm at age 17).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Skinfolds and body fat percentage provide information that helps monitor secular trends in obesity in Turkey and may be used to make national and international comparisons in the future.
authors.forename: Betul
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cicek
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ozturk
authors.forename: Demet
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Unalan
authors.forename: Meral
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bayat
authors.forename: Mustafa Mumtaz
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Mazicioglu
authors.forename: Selim
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kurtoglu
mesh_terms: D050154:Adiposity; D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D012737:Sex Factors; D012885:Skinfold Thickness; D014421:Turkey