The Predictive Role of Raw Bioelectrical Impedance Variables in Disordered Eating Attitudes in Female Ballet Dance Students

The present study used receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis to investigate the accuracy of body composition and raw bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) in correctly classifying disordered eating attitudes (DEA) in dance students. Participants were 81 female dancers assigned in two groups: beginner training (BT; age (mean ± SD) = 10.09 ± 1.2 years, n = 32) and advanced training (AT; age = 15.37 ± 2.1 years, n = 49). Fat mass (FM) was estimated by Slaughter’s equation and skeletal muscle with Poortman’s equation. Impedance (Z), resistance (R), reactance (Xc) and phase angle (PhA) were obtained through multifrequency BIA at a frequency of 50 kHz. Fat-free mass (FFM) was assessed using Sun’s equation. For evaluation of DEA, the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26) questionnaire was performed. We defined an EAT-26 score ≥ 20 as positive for DEA. Comparisons between groups were performed by a one-way ANOVA test or Kruskall-Wallis test. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients were performed to assess associations between variables. ROC curve analysis was utilized to test the accuracy of body composition and BIA variables in predicting DEA. In the BT group, Xc and PhA demonstrated high accuracy in predicting DEA with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.976 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.85–1.00) and 0.957 (95% CI: 0.82–0.99), respectively, (both p < 0.0001). FFM Sun had an AUC of 0.836 (95% CI: 0.66–0.94) (p < 0.0001) in the BT group and FFM Slaughter was 0.797 (95% CI: 0.66–0.90) (p < 0.001) in the AT group. Reactance and Phase angle were excellent and useful predictors of DEA in the BT group.