Centre for Indigenous People's Nutrition and Environment, School of Dietetics and Nutrition, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Am J Hum Biol. 2011 Sep-Oct;23(5):655-63. doi: 10.1002/ajhb.21194. Epub 2011 Jun 16.
High sitting height ratio (SHR) is a characteristic commonly associated with Inuit morphology. Inuit are described as having short leg lengths and high trunk-to-stature proportions such that cutoffs for obesity derived from European populations may not adequately describe thresholds of disease risk. Further, high SHR may help explain the reduced impact of BMI on metabolic risk factors among Inuit relative to comparison populations. This study investigates the relationship between SHR and body mass index (BMI) in Inuit.
Subjects are 2,168 individuals (837 males and 1,331 females) from 36 Inuit communities in the Canadian Arctic. Mean age is 42.63 ± 14.86 years in males and 41.71 ± 14.83 years in females. We use linear regression to examine the association between age, sex, height, sitting height, SHR, waist circumference (WC), and BMI. We then evaluate the efficacy of the relative sitting height adjustment as a method of correcting observed BMI to a population-standardized SHR.
Mean BMI is significantly higher than among non-Inuit Canadians. Obesity prevalence is high, particularly among Inuit women. In the regression, only age and WC are significant predictors of BMI. While SHR is significantly greater than that of the US population, there is substantial agreement between overweight and obesity prevalence using observed and corrected BMI.
We find no consistent relationship between SHR and BMI and suggest the unique anthropometric and metabolic profile observed in Inuit arise from factors not yet delineated. More complex anthropometric and imaging studies in Inuit are needed.
高坐高比（SHR）是因纽特人形态的一个特征。因纽特人被描述为腿短，躯干与身高比例高，因此，源自欧洲人群的肥胖截断值可能无法充分描述疾病风险的阈值。此外，高 SHR 可能有助于解释与对照人群相比，BMI 对因纽特人代谢风险因素的影响较小。本研究调查了因纽特人群中 SHR 与体重指数（BMI）之间的关系。
研究对象是来自加拿大北极地区 36 个因纽特社区的 2168 名个体（837 名男性和 1331 名女性）。男性的平均年龄为 42.63±14.86 岁，女性为 41.71±14.83 岁。我们使用线性回归来检验年龄、性别、身高、坐高、SHR、腰围（WC）和 BMI 之间的关系。然后，我们评估相对坐高调整作为一种将观察到的 BMI 校正为标准化 SHR 的方法的有效性。
平均 BMI 显著高于非因纽特加拿大人群。肥胖症的患病率很高，尤其是因纽特妇女。在回归中，只有年龄和 WC 是 BMI 的显著预测因子。尽管 SHR 显著大于美国人群，但使用观察到的和校正后的 BMI，超重和肥胖的患病率存在很大的一致性。
我们没有发现 SHR 与 BMI 之间存在一致的关系，并表明在因纽特人中观察到的独特的人体测量和代谢特征是由尚未明确的因素引起的。需要对因纽特人进行更复杂的人体测量和影像学研究。
