Anthropometric Assessment of Sub-Cutaneous and Visceral Adipose Tissue in Children and Adolescents from Sofia and Smolyan (Bulgaria)

Abstract

In the medical practice, the assessment of deep (visceral) adipose tissue is made mainly by MRI, computed tomography, densitometry and other methods, which are impossible to use in population studies. The aim of this investigation is to make a comparative anthropometric assessment of the quantity and specific age features in the development of the sub-cutaneous and visceral fat tissue during the time of growth in 9-16-year-old children and adolescents from the capital of the country and Smolyan town (Bulgaria). Analyzed data are part from two complex cross-sectional studies of 9-16-year-old students from Sofia and Smolyan, carried out respectively in the period 2001/2002 and 1998/2001. With a standard anthropometric methodology with each student were measured: height (m) body weight (kg) and waist circumference (cm). The quantities of subcutaneous (SAT) and visceral (VAT) adipose tissue are defined by the regression equations of Brambilla et al. Results showed that between the boys from the two cities, there are no reliable differences in the quantity both of SAT and VAT in all age groups. During puberty growth spurt and after it, the girls from Smolyan have deposited VAT with greater intensity as compared with their Sofia peers. As a result, in the post-puberty age groups, the differences in this index with the girls were statistically reliable, to the benefit of the girls from Smolyan.The comparison of our results with analogous in foreign studies (obtained using the unique for Bulgaria equipment) shows that the referred anthropometric data can be used as a reliable indicator for the ratio between the two components of body fat in the scientific and clinical practice as well. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n1p369