New bioimpedance analysis system: improved phenotyping with whole-body analysis (original) (raw)

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• Published: 12 May 2004

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 58, pages 1479–1484 (2004)Cite this article

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Abstract

Objective: Bioimpedance analysis (BIA) is a potential field and clinical method for evaluating skeletal muscle mass (SM) and %fat. A new BIA system has 8-(two on each hand and foot) rather than 4-contact electrodes allowing for rapid ‘whole-body’ and regional body composition evaluation.

Design: This study evaluated the 50 kHz BC-418 8-contact electrode and TBF-310 4-contact electrode foot–foot BIA systems (Tanita Corp., Tokyo, Japan).

Subjects: There were 40 subject evaluations in males (_n_=20) and females (_n_=20) ranging in age from 6 to 64 y. BIA was evaluated in each subject and compared to reference lean soft-tissue (LST) and %fat estimates in the appendages and remainder (trunk+head) provided by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Appendicular LST (ALST) estimates from both BIA and DXA were used to derive total body SM mass.

Results: The highest correlation between total body LST by DXA and impedance index (Ht2/Z) by BC-418 was for the foot–hand segments (_r_=0.986; left side only) compared to the arm (_r_=0.970–0.979) and leg segments (_r_=0.942–0.957)(all P<0.001). The within- and between-day coefficient of variation for %fat and ALST evaluated in five subjects was <1% and ∼1–3.7%, respectively. The correlations between 8-electrode predicted and DXA appendicular (arms, legs, total) and trunk+head LST were strong and highly significant (all _r_⩾0.95, P<0.001) and group means did not differ across methods. Skeletal muscle mass calculated (Kim equation) from total ALST by DXA (X±s.d.)(23.7±9.7 kg) was not significantly different and highly correlated with BC-418 estimates (25.2±9.6 kg; _r_=0.96, P<0.001). There was a good correlation between total body %fat by 8-electrode BIA vs DXA (_r_=0.87, P<0.001) that exceeded the corresponding association with 4-electrode BIA (_r_=0.82, P<0.001). Group mean segmental %fat estimates from BC-418 did not differ significantly from corresponding DXA estimates. No between-method bias was detected in the whole body, ALST, and skeletal muscle analyses.

Conclusions: The new 8-electrode BIA system offers an important new opportunity of evaluating SM in research and clinical settings. The additional electrodes of the new BIA system also improve the association with DXA %fat estimates over those provided by the conventional foot–foot BIA.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grants RR00645 and NIDDK 42618. Dr St-Onge is supported by a fellowship from Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

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Authors and Affiliations

1. Pediatric Unit, Verona University Medical School, Verona, Italy
   A Pietrobelli
2. Obesity Research Center, St Luke's/Roosevelt Hospital, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
   A Pietrobelli, F Rubiano, M-P St-Onge & S B Heymsfield

Authors

1. A Pietrobelli
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2. F Rubiano
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3. M-P St-Onge
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4. S B Heymsfield
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Contributions

Guarantor: A Pietrobelli.

Contributors: A Pietrobelli designed and coordinated the project, literature review. F Rubiano and M-P St-Onge were involved in documentation and literature review; SB Heymsfield was involved in literature review, documentation review and project adviser. All authors contributed to the preparation of this paper.

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Correspondence toA Pietrobelli.

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Pietrobelli, A., Rubiano, F., St-Onge, MP. et al. New bioimpedance analysis system: improved phenotyping with whole-body analysis.Eur J Clin Nutr 58, 1479–1484 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601993

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• Received: 15 November 2003
• Revised: 20 February 2004
• Accepted: 17 March 2004
• Published: 12 May 2004
• Issue Date: 01 November 2004
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601993

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