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  • Response to Letter to the Editor
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Response to Letter to the Editor: Accuracy of segmental multi-frequency bioelectrical impedance analysis for assessing whole-body and appendicular fat mass and lean soft tissue mass in frail women aged 75 years and older

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 67, page 1008 (2013)Cite this article

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We appreciate Dr Safer et al.1 letter regarding our article. Although we agree with their point of view regarding the methodological limitations of our study, such as the basis of the exclusion criteria and the use of dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) as a reference method, we have presented these issues as the study limitations in our article.2

Our community-based research focused on the assessment of body composition in a specifically targeted population of frail older persons. Several potential operational definitions of frailty have been proposed, but none have been established as the gold standard for identifying frail older persons in a clinical or research setting. The most frequently used methods for identifying frailty was described by Fried and colleagues3 as a condition meeting three of the five phenotypic criteria. Therefore, we have used Fried’s criteria for frailty.

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References

  1. Safer VB, Ozgirgin N, Ozbudak Demir S, Safer U . Comment on ‘Accuracy of segmental multi-frequency bioelectrical impedance analysis for assessing whole-body and appendicular fat mass and lean soft tissue mass in frail women aged 75 years and older.’. Eur J Clin Nutr 2013, e-pub ahead of print 17 July 2013 doi:1038/ejcn.2013.135.

  2. Kim M, Kim H . Accuracy of segmental multi-frequency bioelectrical impedance analysis for assessing whole-body and appendicular fat mass and lean soft tissue mass in frail women aged 75 years and older. Eur J Clin Nutr 2013; 67: 395–400.

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  3. Fried LP, Tangen CM, Walston J, Newman AB, Hirsch C, Gottdiener J et al. Frailty in older adults: evidence for a phenotype. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 2001; 56: M146–M156.

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  4. Laskey MA . Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and body composition. Nutrition 1996; 12: 45–51.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Team for Promoting Independence of the Elderly, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, Tokyo, Japan

    M Kim & H Kim

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  1. M Kim
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  2. H Kim
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Correspondence to M Kim.

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Kim, M., Kim, H. Response to Letter to the Editor: Accuracy of segmental multi-frequency bioelectrical impedance analysis for assessing whole-body and appendicular fat mass and lean soft tissue mass in frail women aged 75 years and older. Eur J Clin Nutr 67, 1008 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2013.136

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