Brown adipose tissue in prepubertal children: associations with sex, birthweight, and metabolic profile

Abstract

Prepubertal AGA girls had significantly greater BAT activation index as compared to AGA boys; this difference was not observed in SGA subjects. Higher BAT activation associated with a lower amount of visceral fat and with a favorable metabolic profile. Long-term follow-up is needed to determine whether those differences relate to pubertal timing, and to the development of obesity and metabolic disorders.

Infrared Thermography for Estimating Supraclavicular Skin Temperature and BAT Activity in Humans: A Systematic Review

“…The first study to use IRT to estimate SST was performed in 2011 . Ten studies were then published between 2011 and 2016 , six in 2017 , six in 2018 , and one until April 2019 .…”

“…Cold exposure is the main activator of BAT in humans . Most, but not all, of the identified studies ( n = 18; 75%) included cooling protocols, although the duration, temperature, and the way of inducing cooling differed between studies (Figure ). Nine out of these eighteen studies used hands/feet immersion in cold water (temperature 10.8°C ± 8.7°C, duration: 6.1 ± 6.8 minutes) .…”

“…The first study to use IRT to estimate SST was performed in 2011 (24). Ten studies were then published between 2011 and 2016 (25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34), six in 2017 (35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40), six in 2018 (16,(41)(42)(43)(44), and one until April 2019 (45).…”

“…Some 56% of these individuals were from four studies (n = 164, n = 102, n = 88, n = 86) (24,31,43,44) (Table 1). Twelve of the selected twenty-four studies included both sexes (24,26,28,29,31,32,37,(41)(42)(43)45,46), three involved only females (27,33,44), and nine involved only males (16,25,30,(34)(35)(36)(38)(39)(40). One study took into account the phases of the menstrual cycle (32).…”

“…According to the PEDro scale criteria, 8.3% (n = 2) (24,25) of the studies were of low quality, 62.5% (n = 15) (20,26,27,30,31,33,(36)(37)(38)(39)41,43,44) of medium quality, and 29% (n = 7) (32,34,35,40,42,45,46) of high quality ( Table 2). The criteria least satisfied by the different studies were those of items 2 and 3 regarding allocation and 5, 6, and 7 regarding the blinding process.…”