Abstract
To determine the best index of body fat distribution for prediction of metabolic complications, four skinfolds (biceps, triceps, subscapular and iliac) and three circumferences (abdominal, hip and thigh) were measured in obese children. Abdominal circumference (AC) index (ACI) was defined as AC2/height. We calculated AC to hip ratio (AIIR) and AC to thigh ratio (ATR), and explored the relation between these anthropometric variables and chemicals (immunoreactive insulin; IRI, triglyceride; TG, total cholesterol; TC, alanine aminotransferase; ALT, and apolipoproteins A1, A2, B) in fasting blood specimens. Sixty-six obese children (>120 % of standard body weight, SBW, for the height), 44 boys and 22 girls, ages ranging from 6 to 15 years, were studied. The IRI, TG, atherogenic index, apo A2 and B correlated with % SBW in boys, but not in girls. On the other hand, TG and TC correlated with AHR and also with ATR in girls, but not in boys. ACI correlated with IRI, ALT and TG in both boys and girls. In stepwise multiple regression analysis assigning ACI as the dependent variable, explanatory variables selected were IRI, ALT and apo B in boys (R2=0.539); ALT and apo B in girls (R2=0.492). Trunk:arm skinfold ratio and % body fat calculated from skinfolds correlated with few blood chemicals. Thus, for the prediction of complications in both sexes, ACI was a better anthropometric index than either %SBW, AHR. ATR or skinfolds. These results suggest the involvement of visceral fat accumulation in progress of disease process in child obesity, as is the case in adult obesity.
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Asayama, K., Hayashibe, H., Dobashi, K. et al. ABDOMINAL CIRCUMFERENCE INDEX: A NOVEL ANTHROPOMETRIC MEASURE PREDICTING METABOLIC COMPLICATIONS IN OBESE CHILDREN. Pediatr Res 33 (Suppl 5), S78 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199305001-00452
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199305001-00452