Accuracy of Smart Scales on Weight and Body Composition: Observational Study.

BACKGROUND: Smart scales are increasingly used at home by patients to monitor their body weight and body composition, but scale accuracy has not often been documented.
OBJECTIVE: The goal of the research was to determine the accuracy of 3 commercially available smart scales for weight and body composition compared with dual x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) as the gold standard.
METHODS: We designed a cross-sectional study in consecutive patients evaluated for DEXA in a physiology unit in a tertiary hospital in France. There were no exclusion criteria except patient declining to participate. Patients were weighed with one smart scale immediately after DEXA. Three scales were compared (scale 1: Body Partner [Téfal], scale 2: DietPack [Terraillon], and scale 3: Body Cardio [Nokia Withings]). We determined absolute error between the gold standard values obtained from DEXA and the smart scales for body mass, fat mass, and lean mass.
RESULTS: The sample for analysis included 53, 52, and 48 patients for each of the 3 tested smart scales, respectively. The median absolute error for body weight was 0.3 kg (interquartile range [IQR] -0.1, 0.7), 0 kg (IQR -0.4, 0.3), and 0.25 kg (IQR -0.10, 0.52), respectively. For fat mass, absolute errors were -2.2 kg (IQR -5.8, 1.3), -4.4 kg (IQR -6.6, 0), and -3.7 kg (IQR -8.0, 0.28), respectively. For muscular mass, absolute errors were -2.2 kg (IQR -5.8, 1.3), -4.4 kg (IQR -6.6, 0), and -3.65 kg (IQR -8.03, 0.28), respectively. Factors associated with fat mass measurement error were weight for scales 1 and 2 (P=.03 and P<.001, respectively), BMI for scales 1 and 2 (P=.034 and P<.001, respectively), body fat for scale 1 (P<.001), and muscular and bone mass for scale 2 (P<.001 for both). Factors associated with muscular mass error were weight and BMI for scale 1 (P<.001 and P=.004, respectively), body fat for scales 1 and 2 (P<.001 for both), and muscular and bone mass for scale 2 (P<.001 and P=.002, respectively).
CONCLUSIONS: Smart scales are not accurate for body composition and should not replace DEXA in patient care. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03803098; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03803098. ©Justine Frija-Masson, Jimmy Mullaert, Emmanuelle Vidal-Petiot, Nathalie Pons-Kerjean, Martin Flamant, Marie-Pia d'Ortho. Originally published in JMIR mHealth and uHealth (https://mhealth.jmir.org), 30.04.2021.