Comparison between body composition assessment methods in athletes: a systematic review

Introduction: different methods and protocols are used to analyze body components however there is no consensus about use or comparisons between them in athletes. Objective: identifying and describing the comparative studies about body composition evaluation methods used in athletes. Methods: this were a systematic review in which were included the keywords "athletes" and "body composition". The parameters considerate in Pubmed, Embase, Scopus, Lilacs and Scielo databases were time limit, language, design and only for humans. Results: thirty of the 1.842 references met the inclusion criteria, with a total of 2,202 adult athletes from different sports. Seven different methods were identified, the most compared were anthropometry, X-ray densitometry (DXA) and bioelectrical bioimpedance (BIA); and the least used were plethysmography, infra-red and ultrasound. There was a predominance of studies where BIA presented higher values of body components when compared to other methods. Conclusion: the discrepancies between the results, populations, formulas, and equipment used difficulties the generalization of results. It is essential to standardize the evaluations within each method.