Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Feb 23;16(1):15.
doi: 10.1186/s12937-017-0236-7.

Comparison of direct measures of adiposity with indirect measures for assessing cardiometabolic risk factors in preadolescent girls

Megan Hetherington-Rauth  1   2 , Jennifer W Bea  3   4   5 , Vinson R Lee  3 , Robert M Blew  3 , Janet Funk  3   4 , Timothy G Lohman  6 , Scott B Going  3
Affiliations

Comparison of direct measures of adiposity with indirect measures for assessing cardiometabolic risk factors in preadolescent girls

Megan Hetherington-Rauth et al. Nutr J. .

Abstract

Background: Childhood overweight and obesity remains high, contributing to cardiometabolic risk factors at younger ages. It is unclear which measures of adiposity serve as the best proxies for identifying children at metabolic risk. This study assessed whether DXA-derived direct measures of adiposity are more strongly related to cardiometabolic risk factors in children than indirect measures.

Methods: Anthropometric and DXA measures of adiposity and a comprehensive assessment of cardiometabolic risk factors were obtained in 288, 9-12 year old girls, most being of Hispanic ethnicity. Multiple regression models for each metabolic parameter were run against each adiposity measure while controlling for maturation and ethnicity. In addition, regression models including both indirect and direct measures were developed to assess whether using direct measures of adiposity could provide a better prediction of the cardiometabolic risk factors beyond that of using indirect measures alone.

Results: Measures of adiposity were significantly correlated with cardiometabolic risk factors (p < 0.05) except fasting glucose. After adjusting for maturation and ethnicity, indirect measures of adiposity accounted for 29-34% in HOMA-IR, 10-13% in TG, 14-17% in HDL-C, and 5-8% in LDL-C while direct measures accounted for 29-34% in HOMA-IR, 10-12% in TG, 13-16% in HDL-C, and 5-6% in LDL-C. The addition of direct measures of adiposity to indirect measures added significantly to the variance explained for HOMA-IR (p = 0.04).

Conclusion: Anthropometric measures may perform as well as the more precise direct DXA-derived measures of adiposity for assessing most CVD risk factors in preadolescent girls. The use of DXA-derived adiposity measures together with indirect measures may be advantageous for predicting insulin resistance risk.

Trial registration: NCT02654262 . Retrospectively registered 11 January 2016.

Keywords: Body composition; Cardiovascular disease; Girls.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Reinehr T. Metabolic syndrome in children and adolescents: a critical approach considering the interaction between pubertal stage and insulin resistance. Curr Diab Rep. 2016;16:8. doi: 10.1007/s11892-015-0695-1. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cornier MA, Despres JP, Davis N, Grossniklaus DA, Klein S, Lamarche B, Lopez-Jimenez F, Rao G, St-Onge MP, Towfighi A, et al. Assessing adiposity: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2011;124:1996–2019. doi: 10.1161/CIR.0b013e318233bc6a. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Weber DR, Leonard MB, Shults J, Zemel BS. A comparison of fat and lean body mass index to BMI for the identification of metabolic syndrome in children and adolescents. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2014;99:3208–3216. doi: 10.1210/jc.2014-1684. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bastien M, Poirier P, Lemieux I, Despres JP. Overview of epidemiology and contribution of obesity to cardiovascular disease. Prog Cardiovasc Dis. 2014;56:369–381. doi: 10.1016/j.pcad.2013.10.016. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Demerath EW, Johnson W. Pediatric body composition references: what’s missing? Am J Clin Nutr. 2013;98:1–3. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.113.064907. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Associated data