Effects of skin blood flow and temperature on bioelectric impedance after exercise

To examine the effects of increased skin blood flow (BFsk) and skin temperature (Tsk) on bioelectric impedance (BIA), 30 young males participated as subjects. All subjects underwent the following measurements: 1) BFsk and Tsk for the chest, biceps, thigh, and calf; 2) body composition using the BIA prediction equations and underwater weighting (UW); and 3) triceps skinfold (SFtri) thickness. After the baseline studies (M1) the subjects exercised for 30 min at approximately 83% of maximal heart rate. The above measurements were repeated immediately after exercise (M2), and at 1-h recovery from exercise (M3). Repeated measures ANOVA showed that mean Tsk and BFsk, and for the four measured sites were significantly increased from M1 to M2 (P < 0.05) and decreased from M2 to M3 (P < 0.05). These changes did not affect BIA measurement for resistance (R) and reactance between M1 and M2 (P > 0.05), and between M2 and M3 (P > 0.05). With regression analysis the following independent variables were identified as strong contributing factors for predicting fat-free mass (FFM): 1) SFtri and total body water for M1 and M3; and 2) WT, SFtri, and Tsk of the chest for M2. Two FFM equations have little multicolinearity (M1 and M2), e.g., they have low root mean square errors (< or = 2.6 kg), very high values for R2 (> or = 0.94), and relatively low values for coefficient of variations (< or = 5.65%). Differences (P < 0.05) were observed between the UW method and the Lukasi equation for estimating FFM for M1 and M3, but not for M2.