Abstract
Excess body fat may place unnecessary physiological stress on the body and negatively impact the wellbeing of law enforcement officers (LEOs). It is crucial to have an accurate predictor of body fat status to guide programming that promotes healthy body fat levels. This is especially important for LEOs who may be sitting for extended periods (e.g., researching, writing reports) or must respond suddenly to address a physically demanding task (e.g., pursuing a suspect). PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the specificity and sensitivity of BMI compared to skinfold measures of body composition in active LEOs. METHODS: Twenty-three active male LEOs (40.4 ± 9.2 y, 178.7 ± 6.8 cm, 93.0 ± 11.7 kg) voluntarily completed a 7-site skinfold test (7-SKFT) to evaluate body composition (%BF) and had their height and weight recorded to determine BMI. Skinfold measurements were taken using a spring-loaded caliper at seven standardized sites (chest, midaxillary, tricep, subscapular, abdomen, suprailiac, and mid-thigh). The 7-SKFT scores were converted to %BF using established equations and 7-SKFT were used as the gold standard comparison. The %BF and BMI values were coded to indicate overfat or obese status using established criteria: 1) BMI scores >25, and 2) %BF scores less than the 50th percentile based on current age. Sensitivity (cases where BMI and 7-SKFT classified an individual as overfat or obese) and specificity (cases where neither BMI or 7-SKFT classified an individual as overfat or obese) were calculated using the crosstabs program in SPSS version 30 (IBM Corp). RESULTS: The rate of overfat or obese for BMI was considerably higher than that determined by %BF (82.6% and 8.7% respectively). Compared to %BF, BMI showed 100% sensitivity and 10.5% specificity. For the BMI scores in the current study, the false positive rate was 89.5% and the false negative rate for overfat or obese was 0%. CONCLUSION: Similar to prior research in firefighters this study highlights the limitation with using BMI measures as indicators of excess body fat. BMI does not differentiate between muscle mass and fat mass, which could lead to inaccurate classification. Therefore 7-SKFT measures as opposed to screening tools like BMI are recommended when conducting assessments to guide health- and fitness-driven interventions in LEOs.
Recommended Citation
Johannessen, Thomas L. III; Mikulis, Emmalee; Pottorf, Ofra; Hirsch, Jessie; Ghigiarelli, Jamie; and Sell, Katie
(2025)
"Evaluation of BMI Accuracy in Predicting Elevated Body Fat in Law Enforcement Officers,"
International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings: Vol. 15:
Iss.
7, Article 18.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/ijesab/vol15/iss7/18