title: The Sex and Race Specific Relationship between Anthropometry and Body Fat Composition Determined from Computed Tomography: Evidence from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Few studies have investigated the relationship of anthropometric measurements with computed tomography (CT) body fat composition, and even fewer determined if these relationships differ by sex and race.
  
  
  METHODS
  CT scans from 1,851 participants in the population based Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis were assessed for visceral and subcutaneous fat areas by semi-automated segmentation of body compartments. Regression models were used to investigate relationships for anthropometry with visceral and subcutaneous fat separately by sex and race/ethnicity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants were 50% female, 41% Caucasian, 13% Asian, 21% African American, and 25% Hispanic. For visceral fat, the positive relationship with weight (p = 0.028), waist circumference (p<0.001), waist to hip ratio (p<0.001), and waist to height ratio (p = 0.05) differed by sex, with a steeper slope for men. That is, across the range of these anthropometric measures the rise in visceral fat is faster for men than for women. Additionally, there were differences by race/ethnicity in the relationship with height (p<0.001), weight (p<0.001), waist circumference (p<0.001), hip circumference (p = 0.006), and waist to hip ratio (p = 0.001) with the Hispanic group having shallower slopes. For subcutaneous fat, interaction by sex was found for all anthropometric indices at p<0.05, but not for race/ethnicity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The relationship between anthropometry and underlying adiposity differs by sex and race/ethnicity. When anthropometry is used as a proxy for visceral fat in research, sex-specific models should be used.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States of America; Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, United States of America.
authors.forename: Morgana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mongraw-Chaffin
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, United States of America; Department of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States of America.
authors.forename: Sherita Hill
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Golden
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States of America.
authors.forename: Matthew A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Allison
authors.affiliation: Geriatrics and Gerontology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jingzhong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States of America.
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ouyang
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States of America.
authors.forename: Pamela J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Schreiner
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, United States of America.
authors.forename: Moyses
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Szklo
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, United States of America; The George Institute for Global Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia; The George Institute for Global Health, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Woodward
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, United States of America; Department of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jeffery Hunter
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Young
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States of America; Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, United States of America.
authors.forename: Cheryl A M
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Anderson
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D050154:Adiposity; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000886:Anthropometry; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000473:pathology; D001823:Body Composition; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D055105:Waist Circumference; D049629:Waist-Hip Ratio