Poor agreement between a portable armband and indirect calorimetry in the assessment of resting energy expenditure

Background & aims: To evaluate the agreement between resting energy expenditure (REE) estimated by a portable armband and measured by indirect calorimetry. Methods: One-hundred and twenty-seven women and 42 men with a mean (SD) age of 44 (12) years and a body mass index of 30.2 (5.4) kg/m2 were studied. REE was estimated using the Sense Wear Pro 2 Armband (SWA), measured using the Sensor Medics 29 metabolic cart (Vmax), and estimated using Schofield's equation. The limits of agreement (LOA) and the concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) were used to evaluate the interchangeability of the methods. Results: The LOA between REESWA and REEVmax were wide in both women (-269 to 378 kcal/day) and men (-330 to 545 kcal/day) and CCC was low (0.579 in females and 0.583 in males, p < 0.0001 for both). REESchofield agreed with REEVmax to a similar degree (CCC = 0.563 in females and 0.500 in males, p < 0.0001 for both). Conclusions: SWA and indirect calorimetry are not interchangeable methods for the assessment of REE in normal-weight and obese subjects. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd and European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism.