Subcutaneous fat tissue patterning in Polish populations

Subcutaneous fatfolds in 6440 subjects aged 3–90 (including 3427 males) from 5 populations in Poland inhabiting rural areas, showing different degrees of urbanization and industrialization, were measured at 10 sites of the body with the Parizkova method using the Harpenden caliper. The examination covered also 988 children, aged 1–36 months from Warsaw. On the basis of the measurement of 4 fat-folds examined in the following order: on the cheek, under the scapula, on the abdomen and the calf, 18 types of the distribution of the adipose tissue (patterning) were identified. These were described with the following coding: 1=scanty, 2=medium, 3=thick. The types showing the statistically relevant surpluses are: 1111, 1112, 1221, 1222, 1333, 2111, 2112, 2121, 2211, 2221, 2222, 2223, 2332, 2333, 3222, 3223, 3332, 3333. Type 1111 prevails in rural populations, but is also frequent in populations inhabiting strongly industrialized areas. In the rural populations inhabiting areas under the initial stage of industrialization type 2111 is predominant, while, the 3333 is typical of industrial towns and cities. The first factor defines fatness, the second factor defines the anatomical distribution of fat (patterning). These two factors explain 72–73 per cent of the total variation of 10 measured folds. The most significant results have been achieved in predicting the amount of fat on the basis of the afore-listed factors in old women, while the poorest predictability has been found in male infants. It has been established that when the cheek-fold is thick, the folds at other sites of the body are not scanty in most cases, while the scanty fold on the trunk and the calf indicates the absence of the thickness on the cheek. When the adipose tissue is medium under the scapula or on the abdomen, it is not thick, in the majority of subjects, on the abdomen or under the scapula. When the subscapular tissue or those on the abdomen and the calf are thick, no scanty folds are found at other sites of the trunk and the leg. The correlation between the thickness of the adipose tissue at different sites of the body is more conspicuous in men than in women. The best «predictor» of fatness in male infants is the measurement on the abdomen or on the 10th rib, while in male subjects aged 3–90, it is the subscapular fold, or the 10th rib or the thigh. In female infants the best predictor is the adipose tissue on the abdomen, on the cheek and under the scapula, while in subjects aged 3–90 it is the 10th rib, the abdomen and the suprailiac fold. The measurements of the adipose tissue on the cheek and under the scapula are the best fat patterning «predictors».