Skinfold and body circumferences as measures of body fat patterning in a French female active population: relationships with the metabolic risk profile.

Body mass index (BMI), various anthropometric indices of abdominal fat distribution and some metabolic variables (blood lipids, fasting glucose, blood pressure) were measured in 408 French-born women from an occupational population who volunteered for the study. The aim of the study was to determine the best index for describing the relationships between the body fat pattern and the metabolic risk profile. The four age-adjusted circumference ratios (waist/hip, waist/thigh, xiphoid/hip, xiphoid/thigh) showed similar associations with the metabolic variables whereas the three age-adjusted skinfold ratios (epigastric/thigh, mesogastric/thigh, hypogastric/thigh) tended to be more weakly associated with the metabolic variables, particularly with apolipoprotein (Apo) B and fasting glucose. Multiple regression analyses showed that age-adjusted BMI was significantly related to high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, Apo A and Apo B, and blood pressure, independently of abdominal fat distribution. After controlling for the effects of BMI, the waist/thigh ratio remained significantly associated to triglyceride, Apo B, fasting glucose, and systolic blood pressure, whereas the waist/hip ratio and the mesogastric/thigh skinfold ratio were significantly related only to triglyceride and systolic blood pressure independently of BMI. With the exception of triglyceride and fasting glucose, the degree of association between the metabolic variables and the abdominal fat distribution tended to be weaker than that observed with the BMI. These results emphasize the importance of the global corpulence in the levels of metabolic variables. However, all indices of abdominal fat distribution were, to varying degrees, independently associated with an unfavorable metabolic profile. Among them, the waist/thigh circumference ratio seems to be a useful indicator of the body fat pattern in women.