Potential Usefulness of Nutritional Ultrasound for Morphofunctional Assessment in Patients With Obesity

Abstract Background Assessing the nutritional status of patients with obesity (PwO) is mandatory to secure optimal management. Easy, affordable procedures to accomplish this purpose would be appreciated. Nutritional ultrasound (NU) is a simple, non-invasive method for morphofunctional analysis. Methods We evaluated the ability of NU to determine body composition in a cohort of 178 PwO. Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) and handgrip strength dynamometry (HGS), which are accepted methods to monitor body composition and muscle functionality, respectively, in PwO, were used for comparative purposes. Results There was a highly significant correlation between NU-measured quadriceps rectus femoris (RF) cross-sectional area (CSA) and BIA-measured fat-free markers such as body cell mass (r = 0.638, P <0.001), fat free mass (r = 0.597, P <0.001) or appendicular skeletal muscle mass (r = 0.591, P <0.001). The correlation between RF-CSA and HGS was also significant (r = 0.536, P < 0.001). NU-measured leg subcutaneous adipose tissue (L-SAT) was highly correlated with BIA-measured fat mass (%) (r = 0.656, P <0.001). There was a significant inverse correlation between L-SAT and HGS (r = -0.416, P <0.001). Conclusions These results suggest that NU can be a useful, cheap, portable tool to assess nutritional status.