Bioimpedance and Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry Are Not Equivalent Technologies: Comparing Fat Mass and Fat-Free Mass

Sofia Lopes, Tatiana Fontes, Rejane Giacomelli Tavares, Luis Monteiro Rodrigues and Cíntia Ferreira-Pêgo ()
Additional contact information
Sofia Lopes: CBIOS–Universidade Lusófona’s Research Center for Biosciences and Health Technologies, Av. Campo Grande 376, 1749-024 Lisbon, Portugal
Tatiana Fontes: CBIOS–Universidade Lusófona’s Research Center for Biosciences and Health Technologies, Av. Campo Grande 376, 1749-024 Lisbon, Portugal
Rejane Giacomelli Tavares: CBIOS–Universidade Lusófona’s Research Center for Biosciences and Health Technologies, Av. Campo Grande 376, 1749-024 Lisbon, Portugal
Luis Monteiro Rodrigues: CBIOS–Universidade Lusófona’s Research Center for Biosciences and Health Technologies, Av. Campo Grande 376, 1749-024 Lisbon, Portugal
Cíntia Ferreira-Pêgo: CBIOS–Universidade Lusófona’s Research Center for Biosciences and Health Technologies, Av. Campo Grande 376, 1749-024 Lisbon, Portugal

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 21, 1-9

Abstract: Bioimpedance (BIA) is the most frequently used technology for body composition assessment at a daily clinical level, mostly due to its low price and user-friendly operation. However, many doubts persist regarding its physiological meaning and applicability. The present study aimed to compare one BIA system and the Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA) for the characterization of body composition in a previously selected cohort of healthy adult participants. A descriptive observational cross-sectional study included a final sample of 121 participants, 93 women and 28 men, with a mean age of 28.26 ± 9.72 years old and a mean body mass index (BMI) of 22.68 ± 3.13 kg/m 2 . Statistics involved paired t -tests and agreement analysis by the Bland-Altman method. BIA underestimated the percent body fat (%BF) by 5.56% and overestimated Fat-Free Mass (FFM) by 2.90 kg. A strong positive correlation between both technologies was found for FFM (r = 0.980) and the %BF (r = 0.932), but the disagreement was statistically significant ( p < 0.001). Although DXA and BIA seem to correlate, these technologies are not congruent. Therefore, the risk of (mis)interpretation and bias is clear with BIA, potentially impacting the nutritional planning of clinical dietitians and the further results of its patients.

Keywords: bioimpedance; dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry; DXA; body fat; Fat Free-Mass (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/21/13940/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/21/13940/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:21:p:13940-:d:954399

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().