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Changes in the bioelectrical impedance parameters estimating appendicular skeletal muscle mass in healthy older persons

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Abstract

Background and aims

As population ageing, it is necessary to use inexpensive and widely available methods of monitoring healthy ageing to earlier detect the risk of potential ageing-related diseases. As an alternative to the reference methods, bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) enables one to quickly and easily estimate appendicular skeletal muscle mass, which in the case of older persons is an indicator of their physical fitness. The aim of this study was to evaluate the actual bio-impedance parameters used to estimate body composition, as possible markers of changes in the mass of the appendicular skeletal muscles in the course of ageing.

Methods

Four hundred and thirty-five persons (including 107 men and 328 women) aged 50–87 years (65.6 ± 6.4 years) participated in the study. Anthropometric measurements and measurements of the bioelectrical impedance components (resistance, reactance, and phase angle) were carried out. Using the prediction equations, appendicular muscle mass and appendicular skeletal muscle mass were estimated.

Results

Differences in the bio-impedance parameters between older persons aged 65 + and persons on average 10 years younger have been demonstrated and the impedance components have been shown to be correlated with age, the correlations being stronger in the persons after the 65th year of life.

Conclusions

The actual bioelectrical impedance parameters measured directly using the BIA method of estimating body composition are good identifiers of the changes in the mass of the appendicular skeletal muscles in older persons in the course of ageing.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the study participants for their effort, devoted time, and collaboration during the study.

Funding

This study was part of a project (No: N404 075337) funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and did not receive any other grants from funding agencies, commercial firms, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Physical Education, University School of Physical Education in Wroclaw, al. I. J. Paderewskiego 35, 51-612, Wroclaw, Poland

    Małgorzata Kołodziej & Zofia Ignasiak

Authors
  1. Małgorzata Kołodziej
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  2. Zofia Ignasiak
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Contributions

MK and ZI initiated the conception of the study. MK designed the analysis, performed statistical analysis, and wrote the first draft of the article, and ZI revised it critically for important intellectual content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Małgorzata Kołodziej.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Ethical approval

The study protocol was approved (18 February 2009) by the Senate Committee for Scientific Research Ethics at University School of Physical Education in Wrocław. The study was conducted in accordance with the recommendations of the Declaration of Helsinki. All persons gave written consent to participate in the study.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Kołodziej, M., Ignasiak, Z. Changes in the bioelectrical impedance parameters estimating appendicular skeletal muscle mass in healthy older persons. Aging Clin Exp Res 32, 1939–1945 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-019-01413-1

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