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The agreement between body composition indices measured by dual-energy X-Ray absorptiometry and bioelectrical
Hong Kim Tang1, Ngoc Hong Thien Vo2, Cuong Quoc Tran3
1Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Public Health, Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Background:
Accurate assessment of body composition is fundamental for evaluating obesity or bone health. While Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is a method with high and reliable accuracy for measuring body composition, bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) provides a rapid, non-invasive, and more accessible alternative. This study aimed to determine the correlation and agreement between multi-frequency BIA and DXA measurements among healthy Vietnamese adults.
Methods:
A cross-sectional study was conducted on 456 adults (222 males, 234 females; mean age 37.0 ± 13.7 years). Body composition parameters including fat mass, body fat percentage, lean body mass, fat-free mass, and bone mineral content were measured using DXA (Hologic Horizon W) and BIA (Tanita MC-980MA PLUS). Bland-Altman plots were used to further assess the agreement between BIA and DXA results.
Results:
Compared with DXA, BIA consistently underestimated body fat percentage (-6.19% for whole body, -4.88% for trunk; p < 0.001) and overestimated fat-free mass (+4.26 kg) and lean mass (+3.94 kg; p < 0.001). Correlations between BIA and DXA were strong (r = 0.95-0.97 for lean and fat-free mass; lowest for BMC, r = 0.81). Bland-Altman analyses revealed proportional bias by region - greater discrepancies in trunk and arms, while the legs showed more stable agreement.
Conclusion:
Overall, the two methods demonstrated strong correlation but region-specific bias, indicating that agreement between BIA and DXA depends on body site.
