Abstract
The aim of this study was at examining the validity and reliability of a marketed bioimpedance (BIA) scale for body composition assessment, in children engaged in an educational football project (FIFA 11 for Health). One-hundred and twenty-seven children (70 boys and 57 girls; age 10.7±0.5 years, body mass 41.2±9.0 kg, Body mass index 18.5±3.3 kg·m-2 and stature 149±7 cm) were evaluated for total body mass, lean body mass, muscle mass, using BIA (InBody 270, Biospace, California, USA) and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA, Lunar Prodigy, GE Medical Systems, Madison, Wisconsin, USA), at baseline conditions. Data analyses were carried out separately for girls and boys. Nearly perfect associations (r = 0.97−0.99) and excellent absolute (TEM = 0.04−1.9%) and relative (ICC = 0.98−1.00) inter-device reliability were found between DEXA and BIA variables. Fat and lean body mass bias (p < .0001) were practically relevant both for the boys (2.56 and 11.22 kg, respectively) and the girls (2.33 and 10.49 kg, respectively). Muscle mass and body fat were underestimated and overestimated, respectively, for the boys and girls. InBody 270 is a valid BIA system for estimating body composition with an excellent inter-device relative and absolute reliability. However, the remarkable measurements bias of BIA fat and muscle mass values discourage its use for clinical prescription. The BIA body composition biases were sex dependent.
Highlights
Body composition has been reported to be associated with health and affected by exercise and diet [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]
Fat% = Percentage of body fat; ICC = Intra class correlation coefficient; 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) = 95% confidence interval; TEM as CV = Typical Error of the Measurement reported as Coefficient of Variation
The magnitude of the reported bias strongly discourage the use of InBody 270 to provide accurate clinical information of body fat and muscle mass in children
Summary
Body composition has been reported to be associated with health and affected by exercise and diet [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]. Excessive body fat and low muscle mass are linked to cardiovascular. Skeletal muscle mass plays an important role in locomotion, metabolism and impacts on other organs due to its secretory function, being an indicator of overall health across the lifecycle [11]. Low muscle mass and strength levels are associated with an elevated risk for cardiometabolic diseases and impairments in neurodevelopment and in bone parameters, increasing the risk of osteoporosis at old age [2, 10]. In youth, high adiposity levels and especially abdominal obesity, have been associated with risk factors for cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome [12,13,14]
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