Performance of a Novel Handheld Bioelectrical Impedance Device for Assessing Muscle Mass in Older Inpatients

To investigate practicality and repeatability of a handheld compared to a state-of-the-art multisegmental bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) device to facilitate screening of sarcopenia in older inpatients. Cross-sectional study in a geriatric rehabilitation hospital. 207 inpatients aged 70+. In a first phase, appendicular skeletal muscle mass index (ASMI) was measured using the handheld Biody xpertZm II BIA device (n=100). In a second phase, ASMI was obtained using the multisegmental Biacorpus RX 4004M device (n=107). Repeatability of BIA devices was compared in subgroups of patients (handheld BIA device: n=36, multisegmental BIA device: n=46) by intra-class correlation (ICC) and Bland-Altman plots. Overall, measurement failure was seen in 31 patients (31%) tested with the handheld BIA device compared to one patient (0.9%) using the multisegmental BIA device (p<0.001). Main reasons for measurement failure were inability of patients to adopt the position necessary to use the handheld BIA device and device failure. The mean difference of two ASMI measurements in the same patient was 0.32 (sd 0.85) using the handheld BIA device compared to 0.02 kg/m2 (sd 0.07) using the multisegmental device (adjusted mean difference between both groups −0.35, 95% confidence interval (CI) −0.61 to −0.09 kg/m2). Congruently, Bland-Altman plots showed poor agreement with the handheld compared to the multisegmental BIA device. The handheld BIA device is neither a practical nor reliable device for assessing muscle mass in older rehabilitation inpatients.