A comparison of body composition assessment methods in climbers: Which is better?

<h4>Objective</h4>To compare body composition estimations of field estimation methods: Durnin & Womersley anthropometry (DW-ANT), bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) and Deborah-Kerr anthropometry (DK-ANT) against dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in a male Chilean sport clim...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: María José Arias Téllez, Fernando Carrasco, Vanesa España Romero, Jorge Inostroza, Alejandro Bustamante, Ignacio Solar Altamirano
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2019-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0224291
Description
Summary:<h4>Objective</h4>To compare body composition estimations of field estimation methods: Durnin & Womersley anthropometry (DW-ANT), bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) and Deborah-Kerr anthropometry (DK-ANT) against dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in a male Chilean sport climbing sample.<h4>Methods</h4>30 adult male climbers of different performance levels participated in the study. A DXA scan (Lunar Prodigy®) was used to determine fat mass, lean mass and total bone mineral content (BMC). Total muscle mass (MM, kg) was estimated through a validated prediction model. DW-ANT and BIA ("non-athletes" and "athletes" equations) were used to determinate fat mass percentage (FM %), while DK-ANT was utilized to estimate MM and BMC.<h4>Results</h4>A significant (p<0.01) inter-method difference was observed for all methods analyzed. When compared to DXA, DW-ANT and BIA underestimated FM% and DK-ANT overestimated MM and BMC (All p<0.01). The inter-method differences was lower for DW-ANT.<h4>Discussion</h4>We found that body composition estimation in climbers is highly method dependent. If DXA is not available, DW-ANT for FM% has a lower bias of estimation than BIA in young male Chilean climbers. For MM and BMC, further studies are needed to compare and estimate the DK-ANT bias level. For both methods, correction equations for specific climbing population should be considered.
ISSN:1932-6203