title: Bioelectric impedance analysis of acute body water changes in congestive heart failure.
abstract: The body water changes indicated by bioelectric impedance analysis (BIA) and body weight were studied in 12 patients admitted to hospital for acute treatment of congestive heart failure (NYHA-class II-III). BIA was performed at the time of admittance and on the third day by using a multifrequency technique, which allows simultaneous estimation of the total body water (TBW) and the extracellular fluid (ECF) and intracellular fluid (ICF) volumes. The body weight at admittance was 85+/-20 kg. Body weight correlated with the body water compartments (r - 0.9, p<0.001). From day 1 to day 3, the body weight decreased by 2.9+/-1.7 kg. BIA estimated the corresponding reductions of the physiological body fluid spaces to 3.2+/-2.4 L (TBW), 2.7+/-1.6 L (ECF) and 0.5+/-3.2 L (ICF). These results indicate that diuretic treatment for acute congestive heart failure mainly lowers the ECF volume. However, changes in body weight correlated poorly with changes in TBW, r=-0.11. We conclude that, although BIA corresponded well to the weight changes at the group level, a poor correlation in individual patients suggests that BIA is not a suitable tool to monitor the fluid balance in patients with acute congestive heart failure undergoing diuretic treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Stockholm Söder Hospital, Sweden. marten.soderberg@medklin.sos.sll.se
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Söderberg
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Hahn
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cederholm
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001834:Body Water; D017097:Electric Impedance; D005110:Extracellular Space; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged