Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis to Identify the Affected Body Component in Girls With Celiac Disease

To investigate the clinical applicability of comparing bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) measurements between female patients with celiac disease (CD) and healthy control subjects with Tanner stage 2-5 to identify the affected body component in CD patients.

This cross-sectional study was conducted with 36 female patients aged between 8 and 17 years who were followed up with a diagnosis of celiac disease and 72 female controls. The research was carried out between January 2024 and June 2025. In both groups, girls with Tanner stage 2-5 were included in the study.

Thirty-six cases were diagnosed with CD and 72 were controls. The mean age of the case group was 12.7 ± 3.1 and the mean age of the control group was 12.0 ± 2.9 (p = 0.228). The ratio of fat free mass to whole body was 78.0% ± 3.4% in the case group and 80.0% ± 4.2% in the control group (p = 0.016). Muscle mass ratio was detected lower in the case group compared to the control group (73.9 ± 3.3 vs. 75.9 ± 4.0; p = 0.014). Fat ratio was analyzed higher in the case group (21.6 ± 3.6 vs. 19.6 ± 4.3; p = 0.023). In CD, patients with high tissue transglutaminase IgA (tTGIgA) and anti-endomysial antibody (EMA) values were found to have higher fat ratio and lower muscle ratio, but the results were not significant.

Total body fat ratio is higher and muscle mass ratio is lower in CD patients despite gluten-free diet.