Comparison of bioelectrical impedance with skinfold thickness and X-ray absorptiometry to measure body composition in HIV-infected with lipodistrophy.

INTRODUCTION Human immunodeficiency vírus (HIV)-associated lipodystrophy syndrome (LS) includes body composition and metabolic alterations. Lack of validated criteria and tools make difficult to evaluate body composition in this group. OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to compare different methods to evaluate body composition between Brazilians HIV subjects with (HIV+LIPO+) or without LS (HIV+LIPO-) and healthy subjects (Control). METHODS in a cross-sectional analyses, body composition was measured by bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), skinfold thickness (SF) and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in 10 subjects from HIV+LIPO+ group; 22 subjects from HIV+LIPO- group and 12 from Control group. RESULTS There were no differences in age and body mass index (BMI) between groups. The fat mass (FM) (%) estimated by SF did not correlate with DXA in HIV+LIPO+ group (r = 0,46/ p > 0,05) and had fair agreement in both HIV groups (HIV+LIPO+ =0,35/ HIV+ LIPO- = 0,40). BIA had significant correlation in all groups (p < 0,05) and strong agreement, meanly in HIV groups, for FM (HIV+LIPO+ = 0,79/ HIV+LIPO- = 0,85 / Control = 0,60) and for fat free mass (FFM) (HIV+LIPO+ = 0,93 / HIV+LIPO- = 0,92 / Control = 0,73). DISCUSSION Total fat mass can be measured by BIA with good precision, but not by SF in HIV-infected patients with LS. Segmental BIA, triciptal SF, circumferences of arms, waist and legs maybe alternatives that need more studies.