Intra and inter-rater reliability of skin fold measurements in university men

The purpose of the present study was to compare the intra and inter-rater reliability of skin fold thickness pectoral (STP), abdomen (STA) and thigh (STT) in university men. It was a sample of 17 men (18 until 41 years old) and physically active. All volunteers were submitted to an anthropometric evaluation and measurement of the three skin folds by a same evaluator to study the intra-rater reliability through Anova by repetitive measures and Bonferroni pos hoc test and the intra-rater reliability based in the value of the mean of the three measures for each skin fold by Anova one-way and the Tukey post hoc test. All tests assumed = 0.05. The results of the skin fold values obtained for the same evaluator in three attempts in STP (12.0 +/- 1.7 mm, 12.0 +/- 1.6 mm and 11.9 +/- 1.6 mm), STA (21, 7 +/- 2.5 mm, 20.4 +/- 2.5 mm and 20.3 +/- 2.4 mm) and STT (15.0 +/- 1.6 mm, 15.4 +/- 1.7 mm and 14.7 +/- 1.5 mm), showing no significant difference in all skin folds. When comparing the results mean difference between the evaluators of 1.2 mm, 1.4 mm and 0.4 mm, respectively, for STP, STA and STT, no showing significant difference. In conclusion, the results in the comparison of skin fold measurements in the intra-rater and inter-rater evaluation, a high correlation (r = 0.91-0.99, p < 0.01) could be observed for all skin folds. In conclusion, the results of the present study showed a good intra-rater reliability and inter-rater in the measurements of skin folds in university men.