Bioimpedance For Analysis of Body Composition in Sports

Abstract

Phase angle (PhA), a bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) parameter, has proven to be a proxy of body cell mass in athletes, but very few data are available on its segmental evaluation (upper and lower limbs). Therefore, the aim of this study is to assess whether whole-body and segmental PhA varied among elite male athletes of different sports and compared these to control groups. Additionally, this study plans to investigate its relationship with anthropometric and body composition parameters. Elite athletes practicing cycling, football (soccer) players, MMA players, and weightlifters considered as active subjects collected from February 2021 till August 2021 age of 18–35 years undergo anthropometric and BIA measurements using Bio-impedance Analyzer BIA450 of BIODYNAMIC®, USA, from the UTM facility. PhA (whole-body and upper and lower limbs) will be considered as raw BIA variable. A total of 24 participants were studied, with 12 participants as active group (athletes and sports) as 12 participants as inactive (control group). Data was also compared with healthy subjects with similar characteristics who were serving as inactive subjects. Both whole-body and limb PhA are significantly higher in active participants (athletes) compared to their respective control group (inactive participants). The average value of PhA for the active and inactive are 7.1 and 6.87, respectively. PhA was found to be positively correlated with BMI and fat-free mass (FFM) more in athletes than in controls and FFM were considered as the main determinant. Furthermore, the direct evaluation of PhA can be used as a marker of survival in different sports and physical activities while predicting the injury and health risk associated with certain physical activities.