BMI Changes During Childhood and Adolescence as Predictors of Amount of Adult Subcutaneous and Visceral Adipose Tissue in Men The GOOD Study

Jenny M. Kindblom; Mattias Lorentzon; Åsa Hellqvist; Lars Lönn; John Brandberg; Staffan Nilsson; Ensio Norjavaara; Claes Ohlsson

doi:10.2337/db08-0606

BMI Changes During Childhood and Adolescence as Predictors of Amount of Adult Subcutaneous and Visceral Adipose Tissue in Men

The GOOD Study

¹Center for Bone Research, Institute of Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy at Gothenburg University, Gothenburg, Sweden;
²Swegene Bioinformatics, Sahlgrenska Academy at Gothenburg University, Gothenburg, Sweden;
³Department of Radiology, Sahlgrenska Academy at Gothenburg University, Gothenburg, Sweden;
⁴Department of Radiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark;
⁵Department of Mathematical Statistics, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg University, Gothenburg, Sweden;
⁶Gothenburg Paediatric Growth Research Center, Institute for Health of Women and Children, Sahlgrenska Academy at Gothenburg University, Gothenburg, Sweden.

Corresponding author: Jenny M. Kindblom, jenny.kindblom{at}gu.se.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE The amount of visceral adipose tissue is a risk factor for the metabolic syndrome. It is unclear how BMI changes during childhood and adolescence predict adult fat distribution. We hypothesized that there are critical periods during development for the prediction of adult subcutaneous and visceral fat mass by BMI changes during childhood and adolescence.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Detailed growth charts were retrieved for the men participating in the population-based Gothenburg Osteoporosis and Obesity Determinants (GOOD) Study (n = 612). Body composition was analyzed using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and adipose tissue areas using abdominal computed tomography at 18 to 20 years of age.

RESULTS The main finding in the present study was that subjects with increases in BMI Z score of more than 1 SD during adolescence had, independent of prepubertal BMI, both larger subcutaneous (+138%; P < 0.001) and visceral adipose tissue areas (+91%; P < 0.001) than subjects with unchanged BMI Z-score. In contrast, subjects with increases in BMI Z score of more than 1 SD during late childhood had a larger amount of adult subcutaneous adipose tissue (+83%; P < 0.001) than subjects with unchanged BMI Z score but an unaffected amount of visceral adipose tissue. BMI changes during adolescence predict both visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue of the abdomen, whereas BMI changes during late childhood predict only the subcutaneous adipose tissue.

CONCLUSIONS The amount of visceral adipose tissue in young adult men was associated with BMI changes specifically during adolescence, whereas the amount of subcutaneous adipose tissue was associated with BMI changes during both late childhood and adolescence.

Footnotes

The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked “advertisement” in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
- Received May 5, 2008.
- Accepted January 13, 2009.
Readers may use this article as long as the work is properly cited, the use is educational and not for profit, and the work is not altered. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ for details.