Development of subcutaneous fat in Spanish and Latin American children and adolescents: Reference values for biceps, triceps, subscapular and suprailiac skinfolds.

Subcutaneous fat skinfolds represent a reliable assessment instrument of adiposity status. This study provides current percentile references for four subcutaneous skinfolds (biceps, triceps, subscapular, suprailiac) applicable to children and adolescents in Spain and in Latin American countries where data are scarce. The design consisted of a cross-sectional multicenter study performed with identical methods in 5 countries (Argentina, Cuba, Mexico, Spain and Venezuela). Total sample comprised 9163 children and youths (boys 4615 - girls 4548) aged 6-18 years, healthy and without apparent pathologies. Percentiles 3, 5, 10, 25, 50, 75, 90, 95 and 97 were calculated by the LMS method. Sexual dimorphism was assessed using the t-test and age differences with ANOVA. Normalized growth percentile references were obtained according to sex and age for each skinfold. The mean values of four skinfolds were significantly greater in girls than boys (p<0.001) and, in both sexes, all skinfolds show statistical differences through age (p<0.001) with different magnitudes. Except triceps in girls, peaks between 11 and 12 years of age are more noticeable in boys than in girls. Although the general model of growth is known, the skinfold measurements show variability among populations and differences of magnitude are presented according to the analyzed population. Therefore, these age and sex-specific reference percentile values for biceps, triceps, subscapular and suprailiac skinfolds, derived from a large sample of Spanish and Latin American children and adolescents, are a useful tool for adiposity diagnosis in this population for which no reference values were available.

Women in transition--menopause and body composition in different populations.

Human biology has provided valuable and applicable points of view to contribute towards human welfare, when it has analyzed changes in the transitional phases of the ontogenetic process. The purpose of this presentation coincides with WHO recommendations to study the modifications suffered by the female body during her stage of reproductive aging in different environments. We study and compared three different groups of women living in the cities of Madrid (Spain), Havana (Cuba) and in Tuxpan, a village in the State of Michoacán (Mexico). Three groups differed with respect to their socio-economic levels, food habits, social organization and culture. We used the same anthropometric techniques, recommended by the IBP, and same tools to assess the women's reproductive life, demography and socio-economic condition. All three groups coincidences regarding the remodelation of their thorax, so after 55 years of age their waist-hip ratio surpassed the cut point of 0.80, associated whit higher risk for chronic cardiovascular disorders. However, examined groups differed, for instance, the rural Mexican women altered their bone density earlier, five years before the urban samples. Next, Mexican women of younger ages maintained high levels of their body mass index above the cut point for overweight.

Educational Inequalities and Frailty in Spain: What is the Role of Obesity?

BACKGROUND: Evaluate how obesity is associated with the development of frailty among older adults is important. However, few studies have examined the relation between obesity and frailty within different educational backgrounds. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to investigate the association between educational level and frailty and to evaluate whether obesity explains any possible associations among Spanish adults. Design, participants and settings: This is a cross-sectional study including 2,319 50-years-old and older community-dwelling Spanish adults, who participated in the first wave (2004/05) of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). MEASUREMENTS: Educational differences in frailty phenotypes -defined by the SHARE's operationalized criterion- and their association with obesity -estimated through self-reports of weight and height- were evaluated using multinomial logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: Women experienced frailty in a larger proportion than men (22.3% vs. 13.3%). After adjusting for all confounders, we found a marked educational gradient in frailty, where individuals with non-formal education showed increased odds of a frailty phenotype than individuals with higher education. Moreover, obesity was significantly related to frailty and the effect of obesity is similar at all levels of education after testing for interaction effects. Although there is a mediation effect of obesity, the educational gradient in frailty is robust to controls for obesity. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest a somehow independent effect of both educational background and obesity on frailty among Spanish individuals. This adds to the evidence of the frailty-obesity association among different educational backgrounds, and has implications for future interventions leading to reduce health disparities in elders.