Comparison between two methods of bioelectrical impedance analyses for accuracy in measuring abdominal visceral fat area.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the accuracy of abdominal visceral fat area (VFA) measurements between abdominal dual bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) and whole-body BIA referenced to computed tomography (CT) measures. METHODS: Abdominal VFAs were measured in 102 individuals: 59 men and 43 women with a mean age of 44.2 ± 16.3 years (range 21 - 76), body mass index 23.9 ± 7.8 kg/m(2) (range 18 - 35) using a DUALSCAN HDS-2000 machine (dual abdominal BIA) and an InBody720 machine (whole-body BIA). The VFA values from each machine were compared with those from CT under various conditions. RESULTS: Mean abdominal VFAs were 116 ± 69 cm(2) by CT, 89 ± 47 cm(2) by dual abdominal BIA, and 84 ± 33 cm(2) by whole-body BIA. The former measure showed a higher correlation with the CT measure than the latter (r=0.89 vs. r=0.64, P<0.001). Both BIA methods tended to underestimate abdominal VFAs compared with CT scans when CT VFA was not small. The dual abdominal BIA had less bias than the whole-body BIA in the assessment of VFAs. The whole-body BIA was affected by subcutaneous fat area. CONCLUSIONS: Dual BIA was more accurate in assessing abdominal VFA than whole-body BIA.