RESTING METABOLIC RATE REPEATABILITY WITH QUARK B2 USING FACE MASK

Aim: One of the most famous metabolimeter is Quark b2 (Cosmed, Roma, Italy). At international level, only one study has been realized with the Canopy (ventilated helmet, Cosmed, Roma, Italy), which highlighted the validity of the Quark b2, comparing it with another metabolimeter, DeltaTrac (1) for the measurement of the resting metabolic rate (RMR). Littlewood et al. (2) showed a high variability and poor validity of the values obtained with the K4 b2 (Cosmed, Roma, Italy) and the mask compared to Deltatrac. The aim of this study was to determine whether, with the use of a face mask through the Quark b2, it is possible to obtain a repeatable measurement of RMR. Methods: Ten sedentary subjects were studied (3 males, 7 females): men with an age of 31±3 years, a height of 179±4 cm and a weight of 87±9 kg; women with an age of 39±8 years, a height of 168±4 cm and a weight of 59±5 kg. The RMR tests were carried out with the Quark b2 (Cosmed, Roma, Italy), a device designed to evaluate the gases involved in breathing (O2 and CO2). The protocol used involved the measurement of RMR (kcal/day) in three daily sessions, repeated three times in a week. Results: The ICC, the variance between the tests (VT) and the variance between the days (VD) were calculated. Furthermore, the standard error of the mean was calculated within (SEMw) and between (SEMb) the participants. Data demonstrated that the Quark b2 measurement involved a repeatable measure of the RMR with a face mask (ICC = 87%). The percentage of average variance due to the tests (VT, 9%) was found to be higher than the average variance between days (VD, 3%). The SEMw of the subjects was 4% while the SEMb was 9%. Conclusion: The ICC (87%) confirmed a high repeatability of the RMR measured by the Quark b2 and face mask, highlighting that the differences observed in the test are mainly due to individual differences of the participants. The SEMw values confirm the high repeatability of the RMR results. References 1. Blond E, Maitrepierre C, Normand S, Sothier M, Roth H, Goudable J, Laville M, A new indirect calorimeter is accurate and reliable for measuring basal energy expenditure, thermic effect of food and substrate oxidation in obese and healthy subjects, e-SPEN, the European e-Journal of Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism, 2011; 6: e7-e15 2. Littlewood RA, White MS, Bell KL, Davies PSW, Cleghorn GJ, Grote R, Comparison of the Cosmed K4b2 and the Deltatrac IITM metabolic cart in measuring resting energy expenditure in adults, Clinical Nutrition (2002) 21(6): 491–497