title: Age-related changes of body composition and abdominal adipose tissue assessed by bio-electrical impedance analysis and computed tomography.
abstract: Only scarce information is available on body composition changes with age measured simultaneously by electrical impedance and computed tomography.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to describe the age-related changes of the body composition and adipose tissue distribution in Bulgarians.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional study included 130 participants (mean age 53±9.8 years, range 35-65), divided according to their body mass index (BMI): BMI <25.0 kg/m(2) (18 women, 12 men); BMI 25.0-34.9 kg/m(2) (50 women, 50 men). Body composition was assessed by bioelectrical impedance on a Tanita TBF-215 analyzer (Tanita Corp., Tokyo, Japan). The abdominal fat was measured by computed tomography on a CT/L scanner (GE Medical Systems, USA).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Increasing age was associated with a mean decrease in body weight by 268 g per year in the normal weight subjects and by 390 g in the overweight ones as well as with a fat-free mass decrease of 321 g and of 291 g per year respectively (p<0.001). One year of increasing age was associated with a mean increase of visceral adipose tissue by 2.43 cm(2) in the overweight group and by 2.68 cm(2) in the normal weight subjects and with a decrease of the subcutaneous adipose tissue by 2.30 cm(2) per year in the latter group (p<0.001). The association of fat mass and fat-free mass with age in men and women was best described by quadratic equations (both increased until the age of 45-50 and decreased thereafter).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data showed a significant association between age and decreasing fat-free mass, increasing fat mass and abdominal fat accumulation.
authors.affiliation: Endocrinology Unit, Ministry of the Interior-Medical Institute, Sofia, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Zhivka
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Boneva-Asiova
authors.forename: Mihail
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boyanov
mesh_terms: D050153:Abdominal Fat / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001823:Body Composition; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D017097:Electric Impedance; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D050177:Overweight / Q000175:diagnosis; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed