About this Research Topic
The study of body composition has changed and improved the understanding of several physiological and pathophysiological processes in human medicine, and even the definition of diseases. Today, body composition analysis (BCA) is a need in a number of clinical settings, in particular in the field of clinical nutrition. It is an important component of patient assessment in chronic metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes but also in patients at risk of muscle mass loss and in the elderly. BCA relies on available techniques which are able to assess body composition at different levels, and with different accuracy. Research into appropriate techniques and methods and knowledge on how body composition impacts health and the development of diseases is an extremely timely topic.
Weight scale and tape measure are in the "pockets" of clinicians and allow for prompt and useful anthropometric measurements, which are the basics of clinical assessment. However, several other tools were invented and developed to overcome the limitations of simple anthropometry, to assess body composition at different levels, and a few of them eventually became widely available (e.g. bioelectrical impedance analysis). The use of radiological imaging has become increasingly common in clinical practice. Development of radiological techniques provided for near-at-hand, safe and precise evaluations, and this pushed the role of imaging in the arena of body composition assessment. Imaging plays a role with dedicated studies (e.g. DXA, as well as other techniques, may be requested to assess body composition) but a big part of its role is going to be in the so-called "opportunistic" evaluation (e.g. exploitation of imaging data provided by examinations performed for clinical reasons different from body composition assessment - e.g. CT, MRI), and artificial intelligence applications will play a major role in making this possible.
The goal of this Research Topic is to address new advances and consolidation of BCA techniques, and eventually to provide updated concepts and evidence of their usefulness - how these can change the management of patients, and the understanding and definition of diseases, and how they can provide for markers of prognosis for the patients.
We encourage clinical scientists from different areas involved in body composition research, to contribute and to submit papers to this Research Topic. Of particular interest are manuscripts that emphasize the importance of body composition analysis in clinical nutrition. Both original research articles and review articles are welcome.
Weight scale and tape measure are in the "pockets" of clinicians and allow for prompt and useful anthropometric measurements, which are the basics of clinical assessment. However, several other tools were invented and developed to overcome the limitations of simple anthropometry, to assess body composition at different levels, and a few of them eventually became widely available (e.g. bioelectrical impedance analysis). The use of radiological imaging has become increasingly common in clinical practice. Development of radiological techniques provided for near-at-hand, safe and precise evaluations, and this pushed the role of imaging in the arena of body composition assessment. Imaging plays a role with dedicated studies (e.g. DXA, as well as other techniques, may be requested to assess body composition) but a big part of its role is going to be in the so-called "opportunistic" evaluation (e.g. exploitation of imaging data provided by examinations performed for clinical reasons different from body composition assessment - e.g. CT, MRI), and artificial intelligence applications will play a major role in making this possible.
The goal of this Research Topic is to address new advances and consolidation of BCA techniques, and eventually to provide updated concepts and evidence of their usefulness - how these can change the management of patients, and the understanding and definition of diseases, and how they can provide for markers of prognosis for the patients.
We encourage clinical scientists from different areas involved in body composition research, to contribute and to submit papers to this Research Topic. Of particular interest are manuscripts that emphasize the importance of body composition analysis in clinical nutrition. Both original research articles and review articles are welcome.
Keywords: Body composition, Body fat distribution, Anthropometry, Bioelectrical impedance analysis, Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, Imaging, Opportunistic screening, Sarcopenia, Sarcopenic obesity
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
