The determination of subcutaneous body fat percentage by measuring skinfold thickness in adolescents living in Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi

The idea behind conducting this work was to study the influences of age, gender and BMI on the BF thickness in Sulaimanian adolescents Northern Iraq. This study was conducted in14 schools of primary, secondary and high schools in Sulaimani region. A total of 2,627 subjects of male and female between ages 10 to 15 years was studied. Of these, 1258 was male and 1369 was female. Standard anthropometric methods for calculating height and weight in each subject were utilized. Subcutaneous fat thickness was calculated by utilizing a Lang caliper. On the right side of the body calculated at each places, four different place calculated on the triceps, biceps, suprailiac and subscapular. For each one the average of two calculations has been taken. Fat thickness was assessed by utilizing the SFT on triceps and subscapular places. From the thickness of subcutaneous fat at biceps, triceps, subscapular, and suprailiac sites, the BF thickness was calculated. The mean and SD of Triceps, Biceps, Suprailiac and Subscapular statistical result of T-test shown a significant effect of age on as the P.value was (< 0.001). The statistical analysis of the data by T-test shown that there are a significant diffrent between male and female for ( Biceps, Suprailiac, Subscapular ) as the P.value was (<0.001), but there wasn't any significant difference in triceps for male and female. Also a significant effect of BMI on the triceps, biceps, suprailiac and subscapular was dedected