Purpose: Somatotype drawing developed by Sorensen et al. (1983) has been evaluated as a simple instrument of obesity level without real somatic measuring as height and weight. This study was designed to validate somatotype drawings for obesity assessment by bioelectrical impedance body component analysis.
Method: At first questionnaire of somatotype drawing was done. Subjects were measured body component by bioelectrical impedance analysis as weight, BMI(body mass index), WHR(waist-hip ratio), body water, protein mass, mineral mass, body fat mass, skeletal muscle mass, soft lean mass, fat free mass and percent body fat. We evaluated correlations between these data and somatotype drawings and tried to grouping of somatotype drawings with the means of major body component value.
Result: The data were collected from 205 college women whose height and weight were 161.2±4.8, 55±8.3. Spearman’s correlation coefficients of somatotype drawing were 0.74 with BMI, 0.68 with weight 0.69 with body fat mass, 0.65 with WHR, 0.64 with percent body fat after adjusted age. The grade of somatotype drawings were grouped as 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-9 by BMI, body fat mass, weight, 1, 2-4, 5-6, 7-9 by WHR and 1-2, 3-4, 5-9 by percent body fat(ANOVA and Duncan’s method).
Conclusion: So quick instrument using somatotype drawings were useful tools for evaluation of obesity level and is applicable to screen degree of body fat in self-administered questionnaire survey.
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