Effect of gender on intra-abdominal fat in teenagers and young adults

Abstract

Background: Adult men accumulate greater intra-abdominal fat (IAF) than adult women, a difference closely related to gender differences in cardiometabolic disease risk in the elderly. However, the time when this gender difference appears is a matter of controversy.

Objective: We examine the influence of gender on IAF deposition in lean, overweight and obese teenagers and young adults.

Materials and methods: We measured subcutaneous abdominal fat (SAF) and IAF in 505 healthy sexually mature teenagers and young adults (254 males, 251 females; 15-22 years) using a single CT scan at the level of the umbilicus.

Results: Regardless of body size, young females had greater SAF values than young males. Although lean females had higher IAF values than lean males (13.7 ± 7.8 vs. 11.2 ± 5.4; P = 0.001), overweight and obese females and males had strikingly similar IAF values (23.4 ± 11.1 vs. 23.1 ± 9.5; P = 0.88 and 36.5 ± 20.4 vs. 38.8 ± 13.2; P = 0.59, respectively). In contrast, the ratio of IAF/SAF was greater in males than females, except in the very obese. Multiple regression analysis indicated that while gender was a strong predictor of SAF in lean and overweight subjects (P's < 0.0001), it did not influence IAF after adjusting for height and weight (P = 0.35 and 0.65, respectively) in overweight and obese subjects.

Conclusion: Overweight and obese young women have similar absolute amounts of IAF as young men.