Comparison of air-displacement plethysmography with hydrostatic weighing and bioelectrical impedance analysis for the assessment of body composition in healthy adults.

BACKGROUND: Over the past decade, considerable attention has been paid to accurately measuring body composition in diverse populations. Recently, the use of air-displacement plethysmography (AP) was proposed as an accurate, comfortable, and accessible method of body-composition analysis. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to compare measurements of percentage body fat (%BF) by AP and 2 other established techniques, hydrostatic weighing (HW) and bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), in adults. DESIGN: The sample consisted of healthy men (n = 23) and women (n = 24). %BF was measured by AP, HW, and BIA. RESULTS: In the total group, %BF(AP) (25.0+/-8.9%) was not significantly different from %BF(HW) (25.1+/-7.7%) or %BF(BIA) (23.9+/-7.7%), and %BF(AP) was significantly correlated with %BF(HW) (r = 0.944, P < 0.001) and with %BF(BIA) (r = 0.859, P < 0.01). Compared with HW, AP underestimated %BF in men (by -1.24+/-3.12%) but overestimated %BF in women (by 1.02+/-2.48%), indicating a significant sex effect (P < 0.05). The differences in estimation between AP and BIA and between BIA and HW were not significantly different between the sexes. CONCLUSION: AP is an accurate method for assessing body composition in healthy adults. Future studies should assess further the cause of the individual variations with this new method.

Dynamic cardiomyoplasty: perspectives on nursing care and collaborative management.

Historically, heart transplantation has served as the definitive treatment of choice for patients with end-stage heart failure. Unfortunately, heart transplantation is not available to all patients because of the scarcity of donor allografts and strict patient selection criteria. Dynamic cardiomyoplasty is an experimental alternative to heart transplantation for the treatment of severe congestive heart failure and dilated cardiomyopathy. The procedure involves the use of an autologous latissimus dorsi muscle graft that is wrapped around the ventricles by pericardial attachment. The muscle graft is then stimulated by specialized synchronous train impulses from a cardiomyostimulator; the resultant muscle graft contractions provide support for ventricular function. This article describes collaborative, preoperative, immediate postoperative, and long-term management of patients receiving dynamic cardiomyoplasty. As members of the health care team, nurses are in a unique position to develop care standards and facilitate multidisciplinary collaboration for the care of this complex patient population.