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Socioeconomic status, sex, age, and ethnicity as determinants of body fat distribution for Guatemalan children
Author(s) -
Bogin Barry,
Sullivan Timothy
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330690413
Subject(s) - socioeconomic status , ethnic group , demography , subcutaneous fat , uncorrelated , fat distribution , ethnic origin , obesity , medicine , mathematics , population , endocrinology , sociology , adipose tissue , statistics , anthropology
The distribution of subcutaneous fat at the triceps and subscapular skinfold sites is described for four groups of children living in Guatemala. These groups are (1) high socioeconomic status (SES) children of Ladino (mixed Spanish and Indian) ancestry, (2) high SES children of European ancestry, (3) low SES Ladino children, and (4) very low SES Indian children. The method of Healy and Tanner (1981) is used, employing regression and principal components analysis of log transformed skinfold values to divide “fatness” into two uncorrelated variables: size (amount of fat) and shape (fat pattern). Significant differences exist between groups in size, with lower SES groups having less fat than higher SES groups. No significant difference in fat pattern exists between the high SES Ladino and high SES European children. Significant differences do exist between the high SES groups and the low SES groups. The relative amount of subscapular fat increases from the high SES Ladinos and high SES Europeans, to the low SES Ladinos, to the very low SES Indians. In the high SES European and high SES Ladino samples, girls have significantly more arm fat than boys. There is no significant difference in fat patterning between boys and girls in the two low SES samples. Finally, the relative amount of subscapular fat tends to increase with age in all four samples. These results indicate that (1) fatness and fat patterning are independent anatomical characteristics, (2) SES influences fat patterning; low SES children of both Ladino and Indian ancestry show greater reductions in arm fat than in trunk fat compared to high SES children, (3) sexual dimorphism in fat patterning is SES dependent; low SES children show no dimorphism, high SES children are dimorphic, (4) ethnic differences in fat patterning are not demonstrable for Ladinos and Europeans of high SES; fat distribution differences between low SES Ladinos and very low SES Indians may be due to ethnic factors, SES differences, or both.