AUTHOR=Yoon Ji Won , Sohn Minji , Moon Ji Hye , Lim Soo 

TITLE=Accuracy of Y-scope, a newly developed portable abdominal impedance analyzer, for the assessment of abdominal visceral fat area

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Nutrition

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2022.950747

DOI=10.3389/fnut.2022.950747

ISSN=2296-861X

ABSTRACT=Aims: This study was conducted to evaluate the accuracy of a newly developed multifrequency segmental (MFS) bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) method using an additional portable abdominal impedance analyzer, in the assessment of abdominal visceral fat area (VFA). 
Methods: One hundred healthy Korean subjects aged 19 years or over (43 men and 57 women) were recruited, and VFA was estimated by MFS-BIA with or without the portable abdominal (PA) analyzer, indicating MFS&PA-VFA and MFS-VFA, respectively. The accuracy of the VFA values were compared with those evaluated with computed tomography (CT) at the level of the umbilicus (CT-VFA). 
Results: Mean age was 41 years and mean body mass index (BMI) was 24.4 kg/m2. The mean ± standard deviation VFAs measured by CT, MFS-BIA alone, and MFS and PA-VFA together were 93.4 ± 60.9 cm2 (CT-VFA), 92.7 ± 53.4 cm2 (MFS-VFA), and 93.6 ± 55.4 cm2 (MFS&PA-VFA), respectively. Correlation coefficients comparing CT-VFA with MFS-VFA and MFS&PA-VFA were 0.612 and 0.932, respectively (P < 0.001 for both). The mean difference between CT-VFA and MFS&PA-VFA was less affected by age, sex, and BMI compared with that between CT-VFA and MFS-VFA. Intraclass correlation coefficient (95% confidence interval) between CT-VFA and MFS&PA-VFA was also greater between CT-VFA and MFS-VFA, 0.96 (0.95–0.98) vs. 0.76 (0.64–0.84), respectively. 
Conclusion: In this study, application of PA-BIA combined with MFS-BIA significantly improved the correlation with CT-measured VFA without proportional error. This novel approach using advanced technology may be able to provide more reliable estimates of abdominal VFA.