Association between bioelectrical impedance analysis parameters and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease relative to handgrip strength in children and adolescents in Korea: A comparative study

Abstract

Background Investigations on the association among bioelectrical impedance analysis, handgrip strength, and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) in children and adolescents are limited. Therefore, the present study explored the relationship between bioelectrical impedance analysis parameters, handgrip, and MASLD in youth.Methods This study extracted 337 youths from population-based data. Pearson correlation analyses were conducted to assess the relationship between muscle-related bioelectrical impedance analysis and handgrip parameters. Logistic regression analysis investigated the associations among MASLD, bioelectrical impedance analysis, and handgrip strength. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were calculated to compare diagnostic performances of these markers in predicting MASLD.Results Grip strength, handgrip to weight, and handgrip to body mass index (BMI) were correlated with all muscle-related bioelectrical impedance analysis parameters, including the fat-free mass, appendicular muscle mass, skeletal muscle mass index, and muscle to fat ratio. Multivariable logistic regression analyses-adjusting for age, sex, energy intake, and nutrition-showed that skeletal muscle mass index, muscle to fat ratio, handgrip to weight, and handgrip to BMI were negatively associated with MASLD, whereas body fat mass and percentage of body fat were positively associated. The areas under the ROC curve of handgrip to weight, skeletal muscle mass index, muscle to fat ratio, body fat mass, and percentage of body fat in predicting MASLD were 0.71, 0.76, 0.81, 0.94, and 0.87, respectively.Conclusions Combining bioelectrical impedance analyses and handgrip assessments may be beneficial for MASLD screening in youth.