title: Black women have smaller abdominal girths than white women of the same relative weight.
abstract: Anthropometric measurements were compared in 312 white and 242 black women (mean age 54) who were participants in the Charleston Heart Study. Body mass index (BMI) was greater in black women (27.8 kg/m2) than in white women (24.7 kg/m2) as were body circumferences. However, when the girth measurements were adjusted for BMI, some racial differences were reversed. Age, smoking and BMI-adjusted abdominal girth was smaller in the black women than in the white women (88.9 cm vs 92.2 cm). The ratio of abdomen to midarm circumference was larger in white women than black women (3.24 vs 3.09), and could be interpreted to indicate a less central fat pattern in the black women. This conclusion should be viewed with caution since circumference measurements, though often used in epidemiologic research, do not differentiate between subcutaneous fat and visceral fat.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biometry and Epidemiology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stevens
authors.forename: M W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Plankey
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Keil
authors.forename: P F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Rust
authors.forename: H A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Tyroler
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Davis
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D000886:Anthropometry; D044383:Black People; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D044465:White People