[Frequency distribution of excess weight and comparative results of somatotype aspects over a period of 8 years. Studies made in young Sicilian subjects].

Weight excess frequency distribution with respect to ideal weight was studied in a sample of 2000 men and 2000 women from Sicily aged between 19 and 24. The following findings were made: greater representation of subjects with excess weight in the female sample (18.75%) than in the males (11.80%); about twice the percentage of females in classes with greater overweight incidence (+20 +29%; +30% and over); a slight distributional discrepancy of weight excess in relation to province of origin of the subjects under examination. The standards of thirteen somatic measurements obtained in the samples were compared with those obtained personally in 1967 in a sample of Sicilian men and women with similar characteristics, for the purpose of assessing any modifications in somatotype aspects between 1967 and 1975. No statural growth was found in either men or women while both showed fair weight decrease (about 3 kg) together with a reduction in almost all trunk diameters and extremity perimeters. Thus the somatic aspect of the 1975 sample compared with the 1967 sample would seem to be slimmer and more agile.