Accuracy of Y-scope, a newly developed portable abdominal impedance analyzer, for the assessment of abdominal visceral fat area

AIM: This study was conducted to evaluate the accuracy of a newly developed multifrequency segmental (MFS) bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) method using an additional portable abdominal (PA) impedance analyzer, in the assessment of abdominal visceral fat area (VFA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred healthy Korean subjects aged 19 years or over (43 men and 57 women) were recruited, and VFA was estimated by a conventional MFS-BIA machine and a new MFS-BIA machine with a PA-BIA device, indicating MFS-VFA and MFS&PA-VFA, respectively. The accuracy of the VFA values was compared with those evaluated with CT at the level of the umbilicus (CT-VFA). RESULTS: The mean age was 41 years and mean body mass index (BMI) was 24.4 kg/m(2). The mean ± SD VFAs measured by CT, conventional MFS-BIA, and new MFS&PA-BIA together were 93.4 ± 60.9, 92.7 ± 53.4, and 93.6 ± 55.4 cm(2), respectively. Correlation coefficients comparing CT-VFA with MFS-VFA and MFS&PA-VFA were 0.612 and 0.932, respectively (P < 0.001 for both). The mean difference between CT-VFA and MFS&PA-VFA was less affected by age, sex, and BMI compared with that between CT-VFA and MFS-VFA. Intraclass correlation coefficient (95% CI) between CT-VFA and MFS&PA-VFA was also greater than that between CT-VFA and MFS-VFA, 0.96 (0.95–0.98) vs. 0.76 (0.64–0.84), respectively. CONCLUSION: In this study, application of a newly developed MFS-BIA machine combined with a PA-BIA device significantly improved the correlation with CT-measured VFA without proportional error. This novel approach using advanced technology may be able to provide more reliable estimates of abdominal VFA.