Validation of Bioelectrical Impedance Devices for the Determination of Body Fat Percentage in Firefighters.

Abstract: Jagim, AR, Luedke, J, Erickson, JL, Fields, JB, and Jones, MT. Validation of bioelectrical impedance devices for the determination of body fat percentage in firefighters. J Strength Cond Res 38(8): e448-e453, 2024-To cross-validate bioelectrical impedance devices for the determination of body fat percentage (BF%) in firefighters. Twenty-eight structural firefighters were evaluated (female, n = 2; male, n = 26 [mean ± SD] age: 38.2 ± 8.3 years; height: 180.2 ± 7.5 cm; body mass: 86.7 ± 20.8 kg; body mass index: 25.8 ± 7.8 kg·m-2) using multifrequency bioelectrical impedance analysis (MFBIA) hand-to-foot device, and single-frequency BIA foot scale (F2FBIA), and a single-frequency handheld BIA device (HHBIA). Dual X-ray absorptiometry served as the criterion. Validity metrics were examined to establish each method's performance. Body fat % values produced by MFBIA (r = 0.913), F2FBIA (r = 0.695), and HHBIA (r = 0.876) were strongly associated (p < 0.001) with criterion BF% measures. However, MFBIA, F2FBIA, and HHBIA all significantly (p < 0.001) underestimated BF% when compared with the criterion measure. Constant error ranged between 4.0 and 5.5% across all BIA devices. Despite strong associations between the BIA devices included in the current study and the criterion measure, all BIA devices underestimated BF%, which resulted in an overestimation of fat-free mass. In addition, proportional bias was observed in which BF% was overestimated at lower values and underestimated at higher values.