Relationships among Body Composition Measures in Community‐dwelling Older Women

Abstract

Research Methods and Procedures:Total body fat and visceral fat were measured using electron beam computed tomography (EBT). Anthropometric parameters (height, weight, BMI, sagittal diameter, and waist circumference) were measured using standard techniques. Total percentage body fat was assessed using DXA. Spearman correlations were used to examine the association between the measures. Linear regression, controlling for age, was used to examine the associations between the anthropometric parameters and total and visceral body fat measured by EBT. Results: Correlations among body composition measures ranged from ϭ 0.46 to 0.93 (p Ͻ 0.0001). EBT total fat was strongly correlated with both DXA estimates of total percentage fat ( ϭ 0.86) and BMI ( ϭ 0.89). Separate linear regression models indicated that BMI, waist circumference, sagittal diameter, and DXA total percentage fat were each independently related to EBT total fat. BMI had the strongest linear relationship, explaining 80% of the model variance (p Ͻ 0.0001). Linear regression indicated that BMI, waist circumference, and sagittal diameter were each independently related to EBT visceral fat, with BMI and sagittal diameter explaining ϳ53% of the model variance (p Ͻ 0.0001). Discussion: The use of simple anthropometric measures such as BMI, sagittal diameter, and waist circumference may be an appropriate alternative for more expensive techniques when assessing total fat but should be used with caution when estimating visceral body fat.

Associação de aptidão cardiorrespiratória e circunferência abdominal com hipertensão em mulheres idosas brasileiras

“…Similarly, our results of the univariate analysis indicated a decrease of 24 and 25% in the odds for hypertension in the two highest CRF quartiles, respectively, even after the WC measurement was included in the model. It seems that CRF has a protector effect in hypertension; the same effect was confirmed for women with prehypertension 33 and for elderly 5 . Hu et al 16 also indicated a protective effect of the physical activity level (PAL) for hypertension in women aged 25 to 64 years.…”

“…Several investigations have shown that WC is an indicator of central obesity in adults and elderly women 1,[8][9][10][11][12]21,23,33 , consequently it is directly associated with health risks 17,18,34 . Additionally, WC has a greater predictive cutoff point for hypertension than BMI in men 19 and mainly in the first WC cutoff point (WC ≥80) in adult women 14 , WC has an odds ratio for hypertension of 1.76 between 80-88cm and OR 2.18 for WC ≥88cm 13 , and it is a strong predictor of CVD in women aged 25 to 74 years 34 .…”

BMI and all-cause mortality among middle-aged and older adults in Taiwan: a population-based cohort study

“…The present study demonstrates that BMI, whether alone or adjusted for covariates, is inversely related to mortality among middleaged and older adults, which is consistent with previous studies (12,17,18) . Previous studies have demonstrated a strong relationship between BMI and total body fat (19,20) . BMI may not only be a good marker of adiposity in elderly people, but may also indicate that adiposity offers some protection against fatal diseases (21,22) .…”

Sagittal abdominal diameter is more predictive of cardiovascular risk than abdominal fat compartments in severe obesity

“…12,22 We obtained similar results using the waist girth, a good correlate of total abdominal fat. 23 Although SAD and waist girth may not accurately predict VAT by electron beam CT, 24 SAD appears to be better related to body fat than VAT. 25 In recent studies, SAD has been claimed to be a strong predictor of cardiovascular disease, independent of BMI, with its predictive value increasing for each level of increasing BMI.…”