TY - JOUR
T1 - The sex and race specific relationship between anthropometry and body fat composition determined from computed tomography
T2 - Evidence from the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis
AU - Mongraw-Chaffin, Morgana
AU - Golden, Sherita Hill
AU - Allison, Matthew A.
AU - Ding, Jingzhong
AU - Ouyang, Pamela
AU - Schreiner, Pamela J.
AU - Szklo, Moyses
AU - Woodward, Mark
AU - Young, Jeffery Hunter
AU - Anderson, Cheryl A.M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Mongraw-Chaffin et al.
PY - 2015/10/8
Y1 - 2015/10/8
N2 - Background Few studies have investigated the relationship of anthropometric measurements with computed tomography (CT) body fat composition, and even fewer determined if these relationships differ by sex and race. Methods CT scans from 1,851 participants in the population based Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis were assessed for visceral and subcutaneous fat areas by semi-automated segmentation of body compartments. Regression models were used to investigate relationships for anthropometry with visceral and subcutaneous fat separately by sex and race/ethnicity. Results Participants were 50% female, 41% Caucasian, 13% Asian, 21% African American, and 25% Hispanic. For visceral fat, the positive relationship with weight (p = 0.028), waist circumference (p<0.001), waist to hip ratio (p<0.001), and waist to height ratio (p = 0.05) differed by sex, with a steeper slope for men. That is, across the range of these anthropometric measures the rise in visceral fat is faster for men than for women. Additionally, there were differences by race/ethnicity in the relationship with height (p<0.001), weight (p<0.001), waist circumference (p<0.001), hip circumference (p = 0.006), and waist to hip ratio (p = 0.001) with the Hispanic group having shallower slopes. For subcutaneous fat, interaction by sex was found for all anthropometric indices at p<0.05, but not for race/ ethnicity. Conclusion The relationship between anthropometry and underlying adiposity differs by sex and race/ ethnicity. When anthropometry is used as a proxy for visceral fat in research, sex-specific models should be used.
AB - Background Few studies have investigated the relationship of anthropometric measurements with computed tomography (CT) body fat composition, and even fewer determined if these relationships differ by sex and race. Methods CT scans from 1,851 participants in the population based Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis were assessed for visceral and subcutaneous fat areas by semi-automated segmentation of body compartments. Regression models were used to investigate relationships for anthropometry with visceral and subcutaneous fat separately by sex and race/ethnicity. Results Participants were 50% female, 41% Caucasian, 13% Asian, 21% African American, and 25% Hispanic. For visceral fat, the positive relationship with weight (p = 0.028), waist circumference (p<0.001), waist to hip ratio (p<0.001), and waist to height ratio (p = 0.05) differed by sex, with a steeper slope for men. That is, across the range of these anthropometric measures the rise in visceral fat is faster for men than for women. Additionally, there were differences by race/ethnicity in the relationship with height (p<0.001), weight (p<0.001), waist circumference (p<0.001), hip circumference (p = 0.006), and waist to hip ratio (p = 0.001) with the Hispanic group having shallower slopes. For subcutaneous fat, interaction by sex was found for all anthropometric indices at p<0.05, but not for race/ ethnicity. Conclusion The relationship between anthropometry and underlying adiposity differs by sex and race/ ethnicity. When anthropometry is used as a proxy for visceral fat in research, sex-specific models should be used.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0139559
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0139559
M3 - Article
C2 - 26448048
AN - SCOPUS:84948653403
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 10
JO - PloS one
JF - PloS one
IS - 10
M1 - e0139559
ER -