Peer Reviewed
Sports medicine

Current applications of DXA body composition measurement

Weiwen Chen, Nicholas Pocock
Abstract
Increasingly, measurement of body composition by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is being used in areas of clinical medicine where accurate information regarding fat distribution and/or muscle mass is desirable.
Key Points

    Dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA, also referred to as DEXA) was initially developed primarily for the measurement of bone mineral density (BMD) and is now the gold standard for the diagnosis and monitoring of osteoporosis. This article describes another important application of DXA – the measurement of body composition. Increasingly, DXA is being used in this role in both clinical medicine and metabolic disorder research.

    Picture credit: © Stephen Ausmus/US Dept of Agriculture/SPL/Diomedia.com

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