Estimates of the precision of regional and whole body composition by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry in persons with chronic spinal cord injury

This study examines how reliably a DXA scan can measure body composition in people with spinal cord injuries (SCI). DXA scans use X-rays to measure fat, lean mass, and bone density. The study looks at both short-term precision (scans taken on the same day) and long-term precision (scans taken weeks apart) to see how consistent the measurements are. Understanding the precision of DXA scans is important for tracking changes in body composition over time, especially when studying the effects of exercise or other interventions in people with SCI.

• 1
  Short-term precision: The RMS-CV% for each region did not exceed 5.6%, 2.7%, 3.8%, 6.5%, 5.8% and 2.3% for arms, legs, trunk, android and gynoid regions and total body mass, respectively.
• 2
  Long-term precision: The RMS-CV% for each region did not exceed 6.0%, 3.0%, 4.4%, 8.2%, 3.4% and 2.0% for arms, legs, trunk, android, gynoid and total body mass.
• 3
  The interclass-correlation coefficient in the long-term precision group demonstrated excellent linear agreement between repeat scans for all regions (r> 0.97).