The authors sincerely appreciate Dr. Safer´s letter, his interest in our work and comments.

Safer U et al. exposes that in our study we evaluated muscle mass with BIA, an instrument with controversy in its validity; nevertheless, there is evidence supporting the use of BIA in epidemiological studies, considering as a valid method with a small error (5–10%) [1]. Moreover, we used prediction equations to estimate muscle mass as EWGSOP consensus proposed and to determine the cutoff points for the diagnosis of low muscle mass in our country [2].

In addition, Safer et al. emphasize the importance of pretest preparation for BIA; in our paper, we specify that all the participants were evaluated using the standard technic according to Kyle et al. [3]; also we based our protocol using the specifications in clinical practice [4].

Finally, we agree on the importance of specifying the criteria for performing the impedance in clinical practice as well as on the use of specific cutoff points for the population studied; this last point considered an aim of our published article [5].