Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) for sarcopenic obesity (SO) diagnosis in young female subjects Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) for sarcopenic obesity (SO) diagnosis in young female subjects (original) (raw)

Sarcopenia is defined as a loss of muscle mass depending of ageing and affecting physical function (definition A). A new definition considers excluding mass reduction criterion (definition B). Obesity is pandemic and occurs at all ages. Sarcopenic obesity (SO) implies both processes. The purpose of this study was to compare the results obtained after applying these two definitions to 66 overweight or obese college women aged 22 ± 2.8 years. Percentage body fat (%BF) and skeletal mass index (SMI) were estimated by BIA, muscle function by handgrip strength test (HGS) and physical performance by Harvard step test (HST). There were 9.1% overweight and 90.9% obese subjects. Twenty nine subjects (43.9%) had decreased HGS and 22 (33.3%) had impaired physical performance. One obese subject (1.5%) met the criteria for sarcopenic obesity by definition A and 9 (13.6%) by definition B. Although a linear regression (<0.05) showed a very weak association between these variables (r 2 =0.094, 0.037 and 0.275 respectively) it was observed a tendency for HGS, HST and SMI deterioration when %BF increases. However, other confounding factors must be investigated. Probably as the population gets more obese, the problematic of SO will be found earlier in life.