title: Comparison of three methods for the determination of body fat in patients on long-term hemodialysis therapy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare three simple methods of body composition analysis for the assessment of body fat in patients on long-term hemodialysis therapy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study using the skinfold thickness, bioelectrical impedance analysis, and near-infrared interactance techniques after a hemodialysis session.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ninety clinically stable patients (57 male/33 female) undergoing hemodialysis at the Dialysis Unit of the Federal University of São Paulo.
  
  
  METHODS
  Analysis of variance, intraclass correlation coefficient, and Bland-Altman plot analysis were used for the comparative analysis between the methods.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Body fat measurements obtained by skinfold thickness (13.5+/-6.2 kg) and bioelectrical impedance analysis (13.7+/-6.7 kg) were similar, whereas those measured by near-infrared interactance (11.3+/-5.1 kg) were significantly lower in comparison with skinfold thickness and bioelectrical impedance analysis (P<.001). The strongest intraclass correlation coefficient was found between bioelectrical impedance analysis and skinfold thickness (r=0.87), and near-infrared interactance vs skinfold thickness and bioelectrical impedance analysis methods yielded r=0.78 and r=0.76, respectively. Near-infrared interactance showed a progressive underestimation of body fat values in comparison with the bioelectrical impedance analysis technique in patients with higher amount of adiposity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In our study, we cannot consider that one method of body composition analysis is more accurate than the other because we did not apply a gold standard method. However, the most simple, long-established, and inexpensive method of skinfold thickness seems to be still very useful to the dietitians' routine for assessing body fat in patients on long-term hemodialysis therapy.
authors.affiliation: Division of Nephrology and Nutrition Program, Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Maria Ayako
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Kamimura
authors.forename: Nelma Scheyla
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: José Dos Santos
authors.forename: Carla Maria
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Avesani
authors.forename: Maria Eugênia
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Fernandes Canziani
authors.forename: Sérgio Antônio
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Draibe
authors.forename: Lilian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cuppari
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001823:Body Composition; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D017097:Electric Impedance; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007259:Infrared Rays; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009748:Nutrition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D006435:Renal Dialysis / Q000009:adverse effects; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012885:Skinfold Thickness; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared