Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Mar;122(3):561-589.
doi: 10.1007/s00421-021-04879-y. Epub 2022 Jan 24.

Bioelectrical impedance analysis versus reference methods in the assessment of body composition in athletes

Francesco Campa  1 , Luis Alberto Gobbo  2 , Silvia Stagi  3 , Leticia Trindade Cyrino  2 , Stefania Toselli  4 , Elisabetta Marini  3 , Giuseppe Coratella  5
Affiliations

Bioelectrical impedance analysis versus reference methods in the assessment of body composition in athletes

Francesco Campa et al. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2022 Mar.

Abstract

The present systematic review aimed to compare the accuracy of Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) and Bioelectrical Impedance Vector Analysis (BIVA) vs. reference methods for the assessment of body composition in athletes. Studies were identified based on a systematic search of internationally electronic databases (PubMed and Scopus) and hand searching of the reference lists of the included studies. In total, 42 studies published between 1988 and 2021 were included. The methodological quality was assessed using the Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-sectional Studies as recommended by the National Institute of Health. Twenty-three studies had an overall good rating in terms of quality, while 13 were rated as fair and 6 as poor, resulting in a low to moderate risk of bias. Fat mass was inconsistently determined using BIA vs. the reference methods, regardless of the BIA-technology. When using the foot to hand technology with predictive equations for athletes, a good agreement between BIA and the reference methods was observed for fat-free mass, total body, intra and extra cellular water. However, an underestimation in fat-free mass and body fluids was found when using generalized predictive equations. Classic and Specific BIVA represented a valid approach for assessing body fluids (Classic BIVA) and percentage of fat mass (Specific BIVA). The present systematic review suggests that BIA and BIVA can be used for assessing body composition in athletes, provided that foot-to-hand technology, predictive equations, and BIVA references for athletes are used.

Keywords: Bioimpedance vector analysis; Classic BIVA; Nutrition; Phase angle; Resistance training; Specific BIVA; Tolerance ellipses.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Andreoli A, Melchiorri G, Volpe SL et al (2004) Multicompartment model to assess body composition in professional water polo players. J Sports Med Phys Fit 44:38–43
    1. Téllez MJA, Carrasco F, Romero VE et al (2019) A comparison of body composition assessment methods in climbers: which is better? PLoS ONE 14:e0224291. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0224291 - DOI
    1. Birzniece V, Khaw C-H, Nelson AE et al (2015) A critical evaluation of bioimpedance spectroscopy analysis in estimating body composition during GH treatment: comparison with bromide dilution and dual X-ray absorptiometry. Eur J Endocrinol 172:21–28. https://doi.org/10.1530/EJE-14-0660 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Boileau RA, Horswill CA (2000) Body composition in sports: measurement and applications for weight gain and loss. In: Garret WE Jr, Kinkendall DT (eds) Exercise and sport science. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, pp 319–338
    1. Bongiovanni T, Mascherini G, Genovesi F et al (2020) Bioimpedance vector references need to be period-specific for assessing body composition and cellular health in elite soccer players: a brief report. J Funct Morphol Kinesiol. https://doi.org/10.3390/jfmk5040073 - DOI - PubMed - PMC

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources