Changes in Body Composition and Skeletal Robustness in 7-17-Year-Old Children and Adolescents From Plovdiv, Bulgaria (1998-2008)

Abstract

Objectives. Overweight and obesity among children and adolescents represent a global epidemic problem that leads to a number of socially serious diseases among grown-ups. The purpose of this study is to assess the changes that have occurred for a 10-year period of time in body composition and skeletal robustness of children and adolescents. Material and methods. 2094 healthy children and adolescents aged 7-17 from the town of Plovdiv were examined in 2008/2009. The results were compared with identical ones referring to healthy 7-17 year-old children and adolescents from Plovdiv, who were examined in 1998-1999. For each person height, weight, elbow breadth, subscapular and triceps skinfolds were measured using anthropometric methods. On this basis, calculations of the body mass index, the fat free mass index, the fat mass index, percentage of body fat and the Frame-Index of each child were made. The data were processed by SPSS 20.0 software. Results. The children from this survey are slightly taller and heavier, with the values of BMI and a significantly lower percentage of body fat tending to increase. During the 10 years period of survey, the Frame has decreased significantly in almost all age groups, except 11 and 16-yearold boys and 17-year-old girls from the previous study. Skeletal robustness has not decreased in any percentile groups: the 90 and 97 percentile values are higher among children nowadays, and the values of the 10 th and 3 rd percentile of the index are lower. The ten-year variations in the values of 10 th percentile correspond to lower skeletal robustness from 2 to 15.7% for boys and from 7 to 18% for girls. There are no significant correlations between skeletal robustness and BMI, as well as between skeletal robustness and percentage of body fat. Conclusions. While growing, contemporary children accumulate more fat-free body mass per unit of height, whereas their peers a decade ago -more fat tissue per unit of height. The increase in the percentage of overweight and the decrease in skeletal robustness of contemporary children and adolescents from Plovdiv were caused, entirely or partially, by reduced physical activity.

Percentiles de referencia del índice de robustez esquelética humeral de niñas y niños (4-14 años). Un estudio antropométrico transversal en tres provincias argentinas

“…Tal como ya se ha mencionado pueden ser aplicados en el monitoreo de la obesidad oculta o también, para evaluar el impacto que tiene en el esqueleto los cambios en los estilos de vida en el rango etario analizado. En este sentido, diferentes estudios sobre tendencia secular han informado que el incremento del índice de masa corporal, debido particularmente a la falta de actividad física, promovió la disminución de la robustez ósea de niños y adolescentes en poblaciones de Argentina, Bulgaria, Alemania y Rusia (Navazo et al, 2020;Nikolova et al, 2019;Scheffler y Hermanussen, 2014). Por el contrario, para adolescentes de Chile se comunicó que el incremento de la masa adiposa y la mayor carga para el esqueleto, propiciaron el desarrollo de mayor robustez esquelética (Lizana y Hormazabal-Peralta, 2020).…”

Comparison of frame index reference percentiles in Argentine and European boys and girls

“…However, only height and elbow breath values from individuals aged 2 to 90 years of both sexes were included (Frisancho, 2008). In the last decade, several authors have used the FI to estimate skeletal robustness in child and adult populations (Mumm et al, 2018; Lizana & Hormazabal‐Peralta, 2020; Nikolova et al, 2019; Rietsch, Eccard, et al, 2013; Rietsch, Godina, et al, 2013; Scheffler, 2011). Likewise, a systematic review determined that this index was the body frame size parameter most frequently used in child and adolescent populations (Guzmán de la Garza et al, 2022).…”

Secular Changes in Main Anthropometric Indicators for the Evaluation of the Physical Development of Children at the Age Between 3-6 Years From Smolyan Region, Bulgaria (1996/98- 2017/19)

“…A direct reflection of the increased ecosensitivity of the child's organism to the environmental factors is the secular changes in the basic dimensions of the children's and adolescent's bodies observed in the second half of the 20 th century in most parts of the world. These positive secular changes occur in different periods of growth and are related to an increase of height, weight, BMI and other somatic features [5,6,7,8] with earlier puberty [9]. Also, the secular changes in the ratio between the individual anthropometric features [10] and also the biggest differences in the terminal body height in early childhood have been reported [11].…”

“…At the beginning of the new 21 century, reports started to appear in the scientific literature in relation to positive secular changes in nutritional status, leading to the increasing spread of overweight and obesity among the children as a result of an increase of fat mass [17,18]. Also in scientific literature reports for a decrease of skeletal robustness [7] and for a decrease of the age of appearance of overweight and obesity [19], and its increased occurrence among preschool children [6,20,21].…”