10 hours ago
Body Fat Beats BMI in Predicting Death
'DEXA scans have not supplanted BMI because it's expensive and difficult to use,' Orlando said.
A new DEXA scanner costs a practice between $16,000 and $45,000. BIA machines range from $129 to nearly $16,000, an expense Orlando said is well worth it.
Clinicians may need to work with leadership at their practices to support the purchase of BIA machines and could use the study findings to convey the value these devices provide, said Ryan Singerman, DO, the section chief for Primary Care at Parkview Health in Fort Wayne, Indiana, who was not involved in the study.
'Not everyone is well-versed in the medical evidence or equipped to convince management of the need,' Singerman, whose practice uses BIA, said.
Kyle J. Thompson, MD, a bariatric surgeon at Intermountain Health in Salt Lake City, Utah, said while BMI is still the clinical go-to, some patients are gaining awareness of BF% and may seek out clinicians who use the measure. Offering BF% analysis could bring more business, he said.
'By offering this service, you may increase the number of referrals you receive and see an increase in the volume of other services you provide, such as medical weight loss or bariatric surgery,' Thompson, who was not involved with the study, said.
But with BMI as the current standard, no consensus exists on the definition of healthy BF%, which has implications for patient care.
'Minimal training is required to interpret the results produced by BIA, but there is still a significant amount of variability in how these results are used to guide clinical care,' Thompson said.
Mainous said that the next step in replacing BMI with BF% is reaching a consensus on the definition through large, prospective trials.
'Once these standards are validated, measuring BF% with BIA will then become the standard of care,' Orlando said. 'Until then, clinicians can still use BMI alongside BIA in the office to augment risk stratification using published thresholds for healthy body fat percentage.'
None of the study authors reported relevant financial disclosures. Lead image: Microgen/Dreamstime
