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Total body water measurement using bioelectrical impedance analysis, isotope dilution and total body potassium: a scoring system to facilitate intercomparison

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 56, pages 326–337 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

Objectives: (1) To develop a scale that is useful in evaluating the accuracy of multifrequency bioelectrical impedance analysis (MF-BIA) in the assessment of body water volumes against the accepted gold standard measurements based on isotope-dilution and total body potassium (TBK). (2) To perform a pilot test of the scale.

Design: A scale was developed to evaluate the accuracy of MF-BIA in the assessment of body water volumes. Questions were obtained from reading the scientific literature and discussions involving the four authors. Three of these and two additional independent readers pre-tested the scale. A weighting was identified for each question and a pilot test with a sample of 10 articles (different to those used for the questionnaire performance) was conducted. A further validation was carried out with a second set of 20 articles and two additional independent readers.

Results: The kappa statistic expressing the level of agreement between pairs of the first three authors using this scale with 10 articles, was 0.3, 0.4 and 0.6 after the first attempt. A second evaluation after specific changes improved the agreement to 0.8, 0.6 and 0.8. The mean score for 10 articles was 252±36 points from a total score of 400 (63±9%). The evaluation with the second set of 20 articles resulted in a κ of 0.7 from two pairs of authors. The evaluation with two additional reviewers resulted in a κ=0.7.

Conclusion: A tool has been developed to assess the accuracy of the MF-BIA technique and to identify methodological components, plan future studies and critically evaluate data in this area. It is likely that this tool may also be used to assess the accuracy of single frequency studies.

Sponsorship: COLCIENCIAS and University of Caldas, Colombia sponsor CH Gonzalez.

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Author notes

  1. CH Gonzalez: Guarantor: CH Gonzalez.

  2. CH Gonzalez, JA Evans, SW Smye and P Holland: Contributors: JAE, SWS and PH were all involved in study conception, design, interpretation of results and approving final manuscript.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of Caldas, Colombia

    CH Gonzalez

  2. Department of Medical Physics, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    CH Gonzalez, JA Evans & SW Smye

  3. Department of Paediatrics, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    P Holland

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  1. CH Gonzalez
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  2. JA Evans
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  3. SW Smye
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  4. P Holland
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to CH Gonzalez.

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Gonzalez, C., Evans, J., Smye, S. et al. Total body water measurement using bioelectrical impedance analysis, isotope dilution and total body potassium: a scoring system to facilitate intercomparison. Eur J Clin Nutr 56, 326–337 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601316

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