Estimation equation of limb lean soft tissue mass in Asian athletes using bioelectrical impedance analysis

Yeong-Kang Lai; Chu-Ying Ho; Ai-Chun Huang; Hsueh-Kuan Lu; Kuen-Chang Hsieh

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0300911

Estimation equation of limb lean soft tissue mass in Asian athletes using bioelectrical impedance analysis

PLoS One. 2024 Aug 28;19(8):e0300911. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0300911. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Yeong-Kang Lai¹, Chu-Ying Ho¹, Ai-Chun Huang², Hsueh-Kuan Lu³, Kuen-Chang Hsieh^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Electrical Engineering, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung City, Taiwan.
² Department of Oral Hygiene, Tzu-Hui Institute of Technology, Nanzhou Township, Pingtung County, Taiwan.
³ General Education Center, National Taiwan University of Sport, Taichung City, Taiwan.
⁴ Big Data Center, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung City, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Research & Development, StarBIA Meditek Co., Ltd., Taichung City, Taiwan.

Abstract

Background: The lean soft tissue mass (LSTM) of the limbs is approximately 63% of total skeletal muscle mass. For athletes, measurement of limb LSTM is the basis for rapid estimation of skeletal muscle mass. This study aimed to establish the estimation equation of LSTM in Asian athletes using bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA).

Methods: A total of 198 athletes (121 males, 77 females; mean age 22.04 ± 5.57 years) from different sports in Taiwan were enrolled. A modeling group (MG) of 2/3 (n = 132) of subjects and a validation group (VG) of 1/3 (n = 68) were randomly assigned. Using the InBody S-10, resistance and reactance were measured at 50 kHz from the right palm to the right sole while the participant was in the supine position. Predictor variables were height (h), weight (W), age, Sex, Xc, resistance index (RI; RI = h2 / R). LSTM of arms and legs measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) was the response variable. Multivariate stepwise regression analysis method was used to establish BIA estimation equations as ArmsLSTMBIA-Asian and LegsLSTMBIA-Asian. Estimation equations performance was confirmed by cross-validation.

Results: Estimation equation "ArmsLSTMBIA-Asian = 0.096 h2/R- 1.132 Sex + 0.030 Weight + 0.022 Xc- 0.022 h + 0.905, r2 = 0.855, SEE = 0.757 kg, n = 132" and "LegsLSTMBIA Asian = 0.197h2/R" + 0.120 h- 1.242 Sex + 0.055 Weight- 0.052 Age + 0.033 Xc -16.136, r2 = 0.916, SEE = 1.431 kg, n = 132" were obtained from MG. Using DXA measurement results of VG for correlation analysis and Limit of Agreement (LOA) of Bland-Altman Plot, ArmsLST is 0.924, -1.53 to 1.43 kg, and LegsLST is 0.957, -2.68 to 2.90 kg.

Conclusion: The established single-frequency BIA hand-to-foot (whole body) estimation equation quickly and accurately estimates LSTM of the arms and legs of Asian athletes.

Copyright: © 2024 Lai et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

MeSH terms

Absorptiometry, Photon
Adolescent
Adult
Asian People*
Athletes*
Body Composition* / physiology
Electric Impedance*
Female
Humans
Male
Muscle, Skeletal / physiology
Taiwan
Young Adult

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from the Tzu Hui Institute of Technology Research Program (THIT-110004) and was supported in part by the National Science and Technology Council, Republic of China, under Grants MOST 111-2622-E-005-001. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analysis, or interpretation of the data; in writing the manuscript or in the decision to publish the results.