Anthropometric and body composition parameters in adolescents with the metabolically obese normal-weight phenotype.

ABSTRACT

We aimed to investigate the anthropometric and body composition parameters associated with the metabolically obese normal-weight (MONW) phenotype. This cross-sectional study was conducted with 506 adolescents in Brazil (aged 10-19 y). The MONW phenotype was defined as normal-weight, according to BMI/age, and at least one metabolic alteration. Anthropometric measurements were obtained and the DEXA was used for body composition analysis. Crude and adjusted Poisson regression models with robust variance were used to estimate the associations. The phenotype was positively associated with waist circumference (male prevalence ratio (PR) = 1·05; 95% CI 1·01, 1·09; female PR = 1·06; 95% CI 1·02, 1·09), waistheight ratio (male PR = 1·26; 95% CI 1·07, 1·49; female PR = 1·29; 95% CI 1·07, 1·56) and androidgynoid fat ratio (male PR = 1·25; 95% CI 1·03, 1·51; female PR = 1·39; 95% CI 1·20, 1·62), in both sexes. Furthermore, there was a positive association of phenotype with waisthip ratio (PR = 1·32; 95% CI 1·06, 1·65) and trunkarm fat ratio (PR = 1·13; 95% CI 1·02, 1·24) only in males and with trunkleg fat ratio (PR = 2·84; 95% CI 1·46, 5·53), BAIp (PR = 1·06; 95% CI 1·01, 1·12), fat mass index (PR = 1·24; 95% CI 1·10, 1·41) and regional indices of metabolic load and capacity (PR = 1·29; 95% CI 1·09, 1·53), in females. Anthropometric and body composition parameters indicative of central and total fat are associated with the MONW phenotype.