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. 2007 Sep;31(9):1384-91.
doi: 10.1038/sj.ijo.0803624. Epub 2007 Apr 24.

Truncal fat in relation to total body fat: influences of age, sex, ethnicity and fatness

C-H Wu  1 , S Heshka, J Wang, R N Pierson Jr, S B Heymsfield, B Laferrère, Z Wang, J B Albu, X Pi-Sunyer, D Gallagher
Affiliations

Truncal fat in relation to total body fat: influences of age, sex, ethnicity and fatness

C-H Wu et al. Int J Obes (Lond). 2007 Sep.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the influence of age, sex, ethnicity and total fatness on central obesity in four ethnic populations.

Design: Cross-sectional analysis of study subjects enrolled from 1993 to 2005.

Subjects: A multi-ethnic (Caucasian (CA), African-American (AA), Hispanic-American (HA) and Asian (As)) convenience sample of 604 men and 1192 women (aged 18-96 years, body mass index 15.93-45.80 kg/m(2)).

Measurements: Total body fat (TBF) and truncal fat were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. General linear regression models were used to test for independent associations with log(10)-transformed truncal fat.

Results: For all ethnicities, men had a lower percent body fat and more truncal fat than women. Log(10-)transformed truncal fat increased with TBF approximately as a square root function. At older ages, there was a greater amount of truncal fat in CA, HA and As men (approximately 0.20-0.25 kg/decade) with the effect more pronounced in AA men ( approximately 0.33 kg/decade). For women, the increment of truncal fat per decade was reduced in CA and AA women (approximately 0.07 kg) compared with As and HA women (approximately 0.33 kg). Adjusted for mean values of covariates in our sample, AA had less truncal fat than As.

Conclusion: The accumulation of truncal fat is strongly related to age, ethnicity and total fatness in both men and women.

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Conflict of interest statement

Each author declared that she or he has no conflict of financial or personal interests in any company or organization sponsoring this study.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Truncal fat in CA (□), AA (■), HA (△) and As (▲) men (a) and women (b) estimated from regression model using TBF with mean age (44.1(18.4) years for men and 47.2 (17.6) years for women).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Truncal fat in CA (□), AA (■), HA (△) and As (▲) men (a), and women (b) estimated from regression model using age with mean TBF (16.6 (8.9) kg for men and 26.9 (12.3) kg for women).
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