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. 2012 Aug;171(8):1215-21.
doi: 10.1007/s00431-012-1717-5. Epub 2012 Mar 21.

Population-based centile curves for triceps, subscapular, and abdominal skinfold thicknesses in Polish children and adolescents--the OLAF study

Maciej Jaworski  1 , Zbigniew Kułaga, Paweł Płudowski, Aneta Grajda, Beata Gurzkowska, Ewelina Napieralska, Anna Swiąder, Huiqi Pan, Mieczysław Litwin; Olaf Study Group
Collaborators, Affiliations

Population-based centile curves for triceps, subscapular, and abdominal skinfold thicknesses in Polish children and adolescents--the OLAF study

Maciej Jaworski et al. Eur J Pediatr. 2012 Aug.

Abstract

Skinfold thicknesses are used as valid anthropometric indicators of regional body fatness. Actual population-based values for skinfold thicknesses for Polish children are not available. The purpose of this study was to provide population-based values for triceps, subscapular, and abdominal skinfold thicknesses in healthy children and adolescents. A total number of 17,416 boys and girls aged 6.5-18.5 years, randomly selected from whole Polish population of children and adolescents, were enrolled in the study. Skinfold thicknesses (triceps, subscapular, and abdominal) were measured using Harpenden skinfold caliper. All measurements were taken after the training of participating investigators. The LMS method was used to fit percentile curves across age for each skinfold. Q tests for fit were used to assess the global goodness of fit of our final models. The study shows for the first time smoothed population-based values of body fat distribution indices for Polish children and adolescents 7-18 years of age. Reported skinfold centiles are higher compared to previously established for Warsaw children and very close to the actual US data.

Conclusion: Our study provided for the first time population-based values for skinfold thicknesses evaluation in a way allowing to calculate reliable Z scores. The early detection of abnormal fat stores, using our population-based values and respective Z scores, may be now implemented for practice.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Smoothed percentile curves for skinfold thicknesses for boys and girls across age. Dotted line (median) and dashed line (90th percentile) were used for better readability
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Smoothed percentile curves for skinfold thicknesses for boys and girls across age. Dotted line (median) and dashed line (90th percentile) were used for better readability
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Smoothed percentile curves for skinfold thicknesses for boys and girls across age. Dotted line (median) and dashed line (90th percentile) were used for better readability
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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