Honors College Theses

Publication Date

11-3-2021

Major

Exercise Science (B.S.)

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (restricted to Georgia Southern)

Faculty Mentor

Dr. Ronald Snarr

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Body composition testing is widely used as a measure for determining potential health outcomes in a general population. For an athletic population, body composition testing goes beyond just potential health outcomes and can serve as a tool for athlete profiling for different sports, needs analysis for individual athlete training programs and as a comparative measure for pre, during and post season statistics. However, the algorithms used for determining body composition are often times based off the general population. This could inaccurately estimate measurements for athletes, who typically have less body fat and more muscle mass than the general population.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study will be to compare laboratory measures (i.e., air displacement plethysmography (ADP) and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA)) to criterion 3-Compartment (3C) and 4-Compartment (4C) models for determining body composition in collegiate female athletes.

METHODS: Approximately sixty Division-I collegiate female athletes between the ages of 18-22 from various sports will participate in this study. All data measurements will be collected for each subject in a single testing day following a standardized protocol.

All data will be analyzed using SPSS version 25.0 and tested for normality using skewness, kurtosis, and normality tests (e.g., Shapiro-Wilk). A repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) will be used to assess differences between measures with Bonferroni post-hoc procedures. The agreement between ADP, DEXA, 3-C, and 4-C will be based on r-values, standard error of the estimate, constant error, and proportional bias. Bland-Altman procedures will be used to identify the 95% limits of agreement. An a priori significance level will be set at an alpha level of 0.05.

POTENTIAL OUTCOMES: Based on previous literature, 4-compartment (4C) models are superior to 2- and 3-compartment models when determining fat mass (Kuriyan, 2014). However, Smith-Ryan found that body volume measurements from DEXA and ADP were not significantly different, therefore, DEXA may be used in replacement of ADP measurements in a multi-compartment model when estimating body composition if paired with bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy (BIS) (Smith-Ryan, 2017). Potential outcomes of this study could include further validity in 3C and 4C models in determining body composition in female athletes.

Body composition testing serves as a tool for athlete profiling for different sports, needs analysis for individual athlete training programs and as a comparative measure for pre, during and post season statistics. The algorithms used for determining body composition are oftentimes based on the general population, potentially inaccurately estimating measurements for athletes. The purpose of this study will be to compare laboratory measures (i.e., air displacement plethysmography (ADP) and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA)) to criterion 3-Compartment (3C) and 4-Compartment (4C) models for determining body composition in collegiate female athletes. Approximately eighty Division-I collegiate female athletes between the ages of 18-22 years from various sports will participate in this study. All data measurements will be collected for each subject in a single testing day following a standardized protocol. All data will be analyzed using SPSS version 25.0 and tested for normality using skewness, kurtosis, and normality tests (e.g., Shapiro-Wilk). A repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) will be used to assess differences between measures with Bonferroni post-hoc procedures. The agreement between ADP, DEXA, 3-C, and 4-C will be based on r-values, standard error of the estimate, constant error, and proportional bias. Bland-Altman procedures will be used to identify the 95% limits of agreement. An a priori significance level will be set at an alpha level of 0.05. Potential outcomes of this study could include further validity in 3C and 4C models in determining body composition in female athletes.

Thesis Summary

The purpose of this study was to determine the agreement between laboratory measures (i.e., dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry and air displacement plethysmography) and criterion multi-compartment models for the purposes of estimating body fat percentage in sixty Division-I collegiate female athletes.

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