Background: The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to summarize current evidence regarding body composition (BC) in SSc in order to gain new insights and improve clinical care in the context of the nutritional status of SSc patients.
Methods: The databases Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus and Cochrane Library were searched on 4 January 2023. Studies were included if they provided data regarding BC obtained by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) or bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) in patients with SSc and healthy controls (HC). The study design criteria for inclusion were cohort and observational studies. The risk of bias assessment was performed using the Newcastle-Ottawa scale. For meta-analysis, mean difference with a 95% confidence interval was obtained and all results were depicted as forest plots.
Results: The number of retrieved publications was 593, of which nine were included in a random-effects meta-analysis totalling 489 SSc patients and 404 HC. Overall, significantly lower body mass index, lean mass (LM), fat mass (FM) and phase angle values were found in SSc patients when compared with HC. Furthermore, FM and LM were significantly lower in SSc patients when the DXA method was applied, whereas the same parameters were comparable between two groups of participants when BIA was applied.
Conclusion: Altered BC is characteristic of SSc patients indicating the need for regular nutritional status assessment in order to improve the quality of life and clinical care of patients with SSc.
Keywords: SSc; adipose tissue; body composition assessment; lean mass; nutritional status; phase angle.
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