Body composition assessment and nutritional status evaluation in men and women Portuguese centenarians

© Serdi and Springer-Verlag France 2016OBJECTIVES: To assess body composition, nutritional status and its differences between genders in a sample of Portuguese centenarians. DESIGN: Observational cross-sectional study. SETTING: Centenarians recruited in Portugal, able to give informed consent. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 252 subjects, with a median age of 100 years, mostly women (77.8%) who accepted to participate in the study, during the period of 2012 to 2014. MEASUREMENTS: Anthropometric data collected (weight, height, BMI, waist circumference, hip and waist/hip ratio) were evaluated according to WHO criteria. A portable tetrapolar bioimpedance analyzer was used to calculate body composition and to assess resting metabolism. Nutritional status was evaluated according to three different criteria: BMI, waist circumference and body fat percentage using anthropometric equations and bioimpedance. RESULTS: We observed an overall mean weight of 51.02±11.03Kg, height of 1.55±0.07m and a BMI of 21.07±3.69Kg/m2. For most of the evaluated parameters, we found substantial differences between genders. The prevalence of underweight and overweight were 25.3% and 13.3%, respectively. Only 5 subjects were obese. Overweight subjects were mostly men (W=10.6% vs. M=22.6%), whereas women were more underweight (W=28.7% vs. M=13.2%). When considering the waist circumference, 26.5% were above the cut-off value. Most of centenarians (72.9%) had a healthy level of visceral fat. This measurement was highly correlated with waist circumference (r= 0.687, p<0.001). The mean of body fat mass was 10.69±6.50Kg, fat-free mass 40.87±7.60Kg and total body water 27.54±6.25Kg. According to body fat mass criteria assessed by bioimpedance, the prevalence of obesity in study population was 6.0% with no gender differences (p = 0.225). Obesity prevalence using anthropometric equations was higher (Deurenberg: 77.7% and Gallagher: 42.8%) than the obtained value by bioimpedance analysis, although according to Bland-Altman analysis both equations showed a good agreement (Deurenberg: 95.8% and Gallagher: 97%) with bioimpedance method. The prevalence of hypohydration (12.9%) was tendentiously higher in women compared to men (W= 15.4% vs. M= 5.0%, p=0.087). Despite the frequency of osteoporosis was higher in women (W = 71.85% vs. M = 28.15%), 95% of men revealed criteria for osteoporosis. Resting metabolic rate (RMR) was significantly different between genders using bioimpedance analysis (W= 1123.33± 173.91; M= 1350.10± 188.88; p<0.001) or Harris Benedict equation (W= 934.92± 102.60; M= 1018.85± 171.68; p=0.001). Bland- Altman analysis between methods indicate that there was an agreement of 97.6%. The overall mean metabolic age obtained was 83.52±1.11 years, well below the chronologic age (p