Skinfold Thickness at Ulnar, Triceps, Subscapular, and Suprailiac Regions in 1,656 Japanese Children Aged 3-11 Years

Abstract

We measured body weight, height, and skinfold thickness (SFT) at ulnar, triceps, subscapular and suprailiac regions in 1,656 Japanese children aged 3-11 years. Means of SFT in boys and girls with normal weight exhibited similar changes with age to Caucasian children. However, nadirs of SFT were observed 1 year earlier and means at 11 years were slightly higher in Japanese. Correlation coefficients between SFT and excess weight (EW) were high in boys and girls when EW was more than 10 %. Some children with EW of more than 10 % had abnormal SFT. Skinfolds in all children with EW of 30% or more were beyond the normal limits. In this study, normal ranges of SFT in Japanese children are demonstrated and their racial characteristics are compared to Caucasians. It is suggested that children with EW of 10-30% are heterogenous and determination of fat volume is essential to confirm the diagnosis of obesity in these subjects.

Fat areas on the extremities in normal weight and overweight children and adolescents: Comparison between age-related and weight-related changes in adiposity

“…DISCUSSION Subcutaneous fatness during childhood and adolescence changes in relation to pubertal maturation in girls and perhaps relative to obesity (Tanner and Whitehouse, 1975;Malina and Bouchard, 1988;Ohzeki et al, 1992). Skinfold thicknesses are rather easy to measure and have been applied for children and adolescents (Tanner and Whitehouse, 1975;Ohzeki et al, 1992;Hanaki et al, 1992). Measurement of arm fat and muscle (non-fat) areas are reported to be useful to assess adiposity as well as muscle volumes in the limbs (Frisancho, 1981;Lerner et al, 1986).…”

“…Skinfold thicknesses (SFT) were measured by a single observer using a Holtain caliper at the ulnar (at a point halfway be- tween the olecranon and styloidal processes of ulna), triceps (at the midpoint between the acromial and olecranon processes), thigh (at midpoints on the anterior thigh between the center of the patella and middle of the inguinal band), and calf (at the posterior calf region where the circumference was maximum) (Tanner and Whitehouse, 1975;Ohzeki et al, 1992Ohzeki et al, ,1995. Circumferences were measured with a tape measure a t the same points for the skinfold measurement.…”

“…Fat and non-fat areas were preferred, especially in nutritional surveys (Gurney and Jelliffe, 1973;Frisancho, 1981;Lerner et al, 1986), because these areas indicate the distribution of adiposity in different regions of the body. Relative fat distribution changes with age (Malina and Bouchard, 1988;Ohzeki et al, 1992) and perhaps with degree of overweight.…”

Sexual dimorphism in relationship of serum leptin and relative weight for the standard in normal-weight, but not in overweight, children as well as adolescents

“…Because it is not so easy to evaluate specifically volume of fat tissue (Ohzeki et al, 1992;Tsukuda et al, 1994), body weight and some indices for overweight (RollandCachera et al, 1982;Ohzeki et al, 1989Ohzeki et al, ,1990) are commonly applied to estimate body fatness instead of measurement of adipose volume. Serum leptin levels are influenced by age and=or sex predominantly, but not completely, through alteration in volume of fat tissue (Blum et al, 1997;Carlsson et al, 1997;Ahmed et al, 1999;Nakanishi et al, 1999).…”

The Validity of Body Mass Index Criteria in Obese School-Aged Children

“…These include BMI, the Rohrer index, degree of obesity relative to ideal body weight, growth curves for height and weight, as well as methods based on body composition, such as measurement of the thickness of subcutaneous fat, the Bioelectrical Impedance (BI) method and the Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) method (Ohzeki et al 1992;Eisenkobl et al 2001). Of these methods, the index of physique is widely used as a primary screening method for obesity because of its ease of calculation.…”