Accuracy of Consumer Grade Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis Devices Compared to Air Displacement Plethysmography

Abstract

Int J Exerc Sci 4(3) : [176][177][178][179][180][181][182][183][184] 2011. The purpose of this study was to examine the accuracy of percent body fat estimates from seven different bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) models and a seven-site skin fold formula (SKF) compared with air displacement plethysmography (ADP) in females. Eighty-two female volunteers ranging from 19-67 years (31.96 ± 1.39) enrolled in this study. Body composition was assessed by seven site skin folds (SKF), ADP, Tetrapolar BIA (TBIA), and five consumer grade BIA devices: finger to finger (FF), hand to hand (HH) and three different leg to leg (LL1, LL2, LL3) models. In addition, LL3 was analyzed using the athletic (LL3a) and non-athletic modes (LL3b). The Institutional Review Board for Human Subjects at Eastern Washington University approved this study. The participants represented a wide range of percentage body fat (BF) as assessed by ADP (8.40 to 47.10, mean = 26.15 ± 0.93 SEE). No difference in the estimated percent body fat was found between ADP and SKF, TBIA, FF, HH, LL1, LL2, LL3a, and LL3b (r=0.862, 0.553, 0.775, 0.771, 0.765, 0.791, 0.798, 0.796 respectively; P<0.001). Bland-Altman plots of the differences between % fat by ADP and BIA versus average % fat by the two methods showed no systematic differences for SKF and the seven BIA models (mean differences ± SD : SKF, 1.92 ± 4.25; TBIA, 0.73 ± 7.3; FF, HH, 1.37 ± 5.35; LL1, LL2, 1.70 ± 5.07; LL3b,. Skin fold measures were found to be the most reliable field method of estimating body composition. Of the BIA machines tested, the strongest relationship was found in the LL models with the LL3 in athletic mode (LL3a) being the most reliable. For the more affordable models, the LL2 was the most reliable compared to ADP.

Time course of supine and standing shifts in total body, intracellular and extracellular water for a sample of healthy adults

“…Evidence of adherence to this practice is noted in research utilizing the traditional BIA method with electrodes in the tetrapolar wrist-to-ankle configuration. 6,8 Other studies have modified the recommendation and reported that their participants were supine between 5 and 10 min prior to assessment. 9,10 No literature was found substantiating the recommendation that it takes the full 10 min to stabilize the water compartments.…”

Agreement Between Omron 306 and Biospace InBody 720 Bioelectrical Impedance Analyzers (BIA) in Children and Adolescents

“…For the current study, our findings indicated that the Omron 306 reported higher %BF than did the InBody 720 in a majority of the participants. Peterson et al (2011) found that the multifrequency octopolar measures used for this study had similar %BF to ADP, and therefore, we can assume that the InBody 720 is a better measure of body fat than the Omron 306. It could be expected that the prevalence of the youth at risk for metabolic syndrome determined in another study of this supplement (Laurson, Welk, Marton, Kaj, & Csányi, this issue) could be overestimated; however, metabolic syndrome is a cluster of several risk factors, and therefore, the impact of the Omron 306 was likely minimized.…”

“…An Omron HBF-500 has been tested on college students with favorable results in male students (Pribyl, Smith, & Grimes, 2011) and female students (Peterson, Repovich, & Parascand, 2011) using the ADP (e.g., BOD POD) as the criterion measure. In the latter study, its accuracy was shown to be superior (less residual) to the Omron 306, which was also included in the comparison study.…”

Effects of Volume Overload and Current Techniques for the Assessment of Fluid Status in Patients with Renal Disease

“…Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) actually came to light in the mid1980s with commercial availability of impedance analyzers [126,127]. At first, BIA use took a great extent in nutritional assessment [124], but in time its use also expanded into the area of health monitoring among the general population [126,128]. Although there are varying types and methods of measurement, today the fundamental principles of BIA remain the same.…”