Methods of assessing body composition in people with limb amputation

Abstract

Objective: Identify which methods of have been used to assess the body composition individuals with limb amputation from the literature review. Method: In order to reach the defined objective, the Pubmed and Scielo databases were used, through the descriptors (in combination with amputation) body composition, fat mass and lean mass from 1986 to 2019. Results: Found articles went through the inclusion and exclusion criteria and 17 articles were selected, all of them using anthropometric measures (body mass and stature), followed by bone densitometry (DXA) and thickness of skinfolds. It can also be observed that most of the studies are focused on the health aspect which focused on nutrition and risk factors. Conclusion: Through this review we observed that the anthropometric methods were mostly used to evaluate body composition in individuals with limb amputation followed by bone densitometry. However, the studies were scarce and many procedures were not so clear to make a more careful analysis unfeasible. In addition, there is a lack of longitudinal studies and especially in the area of sports performance in this population, indicating an important gap to be explored.