A Pilot Study Examining the Body Composition of the Population of the Republic of Tajikistan Using Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis

Abstract

Objective: Evaluation of a pilot study results examining bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) of body composition of the population of the Republic of Tajikistan. Methods: The body composition of 1304 individuals was studied using bioimpedance measurements. The study included 718 women (55.1%) and 586 men (44.9%) with an average age of 41.1±13.6 years. The following variables were measured: fat mass (FM, kg), percent body fat (PBF, %), fat-free mass (FFM, kg), body cell mass (BCM, %), percent body cell mass (PBCM, %), skeletal muscle mass (SMM, kg), percentage of SMM (PSMM, %), total body water (TBW, kg), extracellular fluid (ECF, kg), bone mineral content (BMC, kg), basal metabolic rate (BMR, kcal/day) and mass-specific metabolic rate (msBMR, kcal/m2 /day). In addition to examining patients, we determined their body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) using the Adolphe Quetelet formula. Results: The average FM for all study subjects was 22.5±12.04 kg. Women displayed 24.2% more FM than men – 24.6±12.0 kg and 19.8±11.6 kg, respectively (p 0.001). LM in all subjects averaged 44.9±4.7 kg, in men and women – 46.3±3.6 kg and 44.0±4.3 kg, respectively (p 0.05). As a result, men had a higher BMR than women – 1735.5±102.1 kcal/day and 918.9±57.2 kcal/day, respectively (p 0.001). There were no significant gender differences in msBMR: for men and women, the average was 853.7±30.8 and 846.4±33.3 kcal/m2/day, respectively (p 0.05). There were also no gender differences in BMC for men and women: the average was 2.1±0.2 and 2.1±0.2 kg, respectively (p 0.05). The results showed positive significant (p 0.05) linear relationships between BMI categories and WHR (r=0.182), FM (r=0.933), PBF (r=0.855), FFM (r=0.262), BCM (r=0.159), TBW (r=0.259), ECF (r=0.440), BMC (r=0.522), BMR (r=0.161), and negative linear relationship – with PBCM (r= -0.042), SMM (r= -0.121), PSMM (r= -0.605) and msBMR (r=-0.521).Conclusion: BIA is a highly effective method for assessing body composition, allowing for accurate determination of fat and lean mass, total body fluid, and basal metabolic rates. The differences in the above indicators varied based on gender, age, and body weight of the examined cohort. Using bioimpedance instead of anthropometry provides a more accurate assessment of obesity. Keywords: Electrical impedance measurement, bioimpedance analysis, overweight, obesity, fat mass