Elderly subjects with type 2 diabetes show altered tissue electrical properties.

Objective: The aim of the present research was to show the characteristics of body composition in a sample of elderly subjects with type 2 diabetes compared with healthy controls matched by age and body mass index (BMI) by bioelectrical impedance vector analysis.

Methods: The sample consisted of 144 free-living patients (84 women and 60 men) with type 2 diabetes 60 to 84 y old and 209 age-matched controls (116 women and 93 men). Anthropometric measurements (weight; height; upper arm, hip, waist, and calf circumferences; biceps; triceps; and subscapular and suprailiac skinfolds) were taken. Blood samples for the assessment of plasma glucose and glycated hemoglobin were collected. The BMI, upper arm muscular area, and waist-to-hip ratio were calculated. Bioelectrical impedance vector analysis was applied. The analysis was performed in the entire diabetic sample and the healthy BMI-matched groups.

Results: Compared with healthy subjects, patients had greater weight (P < 0.01 in women), higher BMI (P < 0.01 in women), smaller muscular area (P < 0.01 in men), and thicker skinfolds (P < 0.01 in women and men). Female and male patients showed larger phase angles (P < 0.01). Moreover, female patients showed a shorter vector length and lower resistance (P < 0.01) and male patients showed a higher reactance (P < 0.01). The BMI-matched analysis confirmed that patients were characterized by larger phase angles.

Conclusions: Older patients with type 2 diabetes were characterized by peculiar anthropometric and bioelectrical patterns, which can be related to their smaller appendicular muscular area and lower extracellular/intracellular water ratio.