title: Direct relationship of body mass index and waist circumference with body tissue distribution in elderly persons.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the relationship of BMI and WC with muscle/adipose tissue mass ratios and with trunk adipose tissue distribution, based on an anatomical 5-compartment model, by dissection of cadavers of elderly persons.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional explorative study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Brussels Cadaver Analysis Study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cadavers of twenty-nine white Caucasian elderly persons (17 females and 12 males, aged 78.1±6.9 years).
  
  
  METHODS
  Whole body and trunk composition were determined at the anatomical tissue-system level by direct dissection.
  
  
  RESULTS
  BMI and WC were significantly and positively related to absolute tissue masses in both sexes. Muscle tissue mass, adipose tissue mass and trunk internal adipose tissue mass correlated better with BMI (r-values between 0.68 and 0.89) than with WC (r-values between 0.49 and 0.71). BMI was significantly and inversely related with various muscle/adipose tissue ratios in both sexes (r-values between -0.54 and -0.68). WC correlated with muscle/adipose tissue ratios in females only (r-values between -0.55 and -0.64). BMI was also significantly related to trunk adipose tissue distribution in elderly females, but not in males. When comparing individual tissue proportions within and between adjacent BMI-classifications or WC categories, body composition varied considerably.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results show that BMI and WC are significantly related with adipose tissue mass and with several ratios of muscle to adipose tissue in elderly subjects. However, cautious clinical interpretation is warranted since important differences in tissue mass proportions were found in subjects with similar BMI and/or WC values.
authors.affiliation: Experimental Anatomy, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium. aldo.scafoglieri@vub.ac.be
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Scafoglieri
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Provyn
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bautmans
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Van Roy
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Clarys
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001823:Body Composition; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002102:Cadaver; D004210:Dissection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal; D055105:Waist Circumference