Standing 8-Electrode Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis as an Alternative Method to Estimate Visceral Fat Area and Body Fat Mass in Athletes

Abstract

Ling-Chun Lee,1,* Pi-Shan Hsu,2,3,* Kuen-Chang Hsieh,4– 6 Yu-Yawn Chen,7 Lee-Ping Chu,8 Hsueh-Kuan Lu,9 Yen-Chen Chiu,10 Lin Li,11 Chung-Liang Lai12,13 1Department of Physical Education, Chinese Culture University, Taipei, Taiwan; 2Department of Family Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; 3Graduate Institute of Microbiology and Public Health, National Chung-Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan; 4Fundamental Education Center, National Chin-Yi University of Technology, Taichung, Taiwan; 5Big Data Center, National Chung-Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan; 6Office of Physical Education, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei, Taiwan; 7Division of Food Nutrition, National Taitung Junior College, Taitung, Taiwan; 8Department of Orthopedics, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; 9General Education Center, National Taiwan University of Sport, Taichung, Taiwan; 10Department of Exercise Health Science, National Taiwan University of Sport, Taichung, Taiwan; 11Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Taichung Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taichung, Taiwan; 12Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Puzi Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Chiayi, Taiwan; 13Department of Occupational Therapy, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Chung-Liang LaiDepartment of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Puzi Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, No. 42– 50, YungHo Vil., Puzi City, Chiayi County, 61347, TaiwanTel [phone]Email [email protected]: To investigate the potential of standing 8-electrode bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) for assessing visceral fat area (VFA) and body fat mass (BFM) in athletes.Materials and Methods: A total of 95 subjects (50 males and 45 females) were recruited. VFA and BFM measurements were obtained using three standing 8-electrode BIA devices, InBody230, InBody770, and IOI353. These acquired VFA and BFM were expressed as VFAIOI353, VFAInBody230, VFAInBody770 V, BFMIOI353, BFMInBody230, and BFMInBody770, respectively. As reference measurement, the VFA acquired from computer tomography (CT) was expressed as VFACT, and the BFM measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) was denoted as BFMDXA.Results: The coefficient of determination (r2) in regression analysis between the measurements by VFAIOI353, VFAInBody230, VFAInBody770 and VFACT were 0.425, 0.492, and 0.473, respectively. Also, the limits of agreement (LOA) obtained from Bland–Altman analysis were − 25.18 to 56.62, − 29.74 to 62.44, and − 32.96 to 71.93 cm2. For BFM, r2 in regression analysis between the measurements by BFMIOI353, BFMInBody230, BFMInBody770 and BMFDXA were 0.894, 0.950, and 0.955, respectively; LOA were − 7.21 to 5.75, − 4.70 to 4.05, and − 5.48 to 3.05 kg, respectively.Conclusion: The results showed when assessing BFM, these instruments delivered comparable measurements, and the degree of agreement ranged from excellent to moderate compared with the reference method. However, when assessing VFA, the agreements were weak. Therefore, the application of standing 8-electrode BIA devices for assessing athletes’ VFA still needs improvement.Keywords: bioelectrical impedance analysis, body fat mass, visceral fat area

Keywords

• bioelectrical impedance analysis
• body fat mass
• visceral fat area