Research
Sexual dimorphism of adipose tissue distribution across the lifespan: a cross-sectional whole-body magnetic resonance imaging study
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* Corresponding author: Wei Shen ws2003@columbia.edu
1 Obesity Research Center, St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital & Institute of Human Nutrition, Columbia University, College of Physicians & Surgeons, New York, NY, USA
2 Exercise & Health Laboratory, Faculty of Human Movement, Technical University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
3 Department of Biostatistics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA
4 Merck & Co, Rahway, NJ, USA
Nutrition & Metabolism 2009, 6:17 doi:10.1186/1743-7075-6-17
Published: 16 April 2009Abstract
Background
Despite increasing research and clinical significance, limited information is available on how the visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue (VAT and SAT) compartments develop during growth and maturation and then vary in volume across the adult lifespan. The present study aimed at exploring how adipose tissue compartments partition across the lifespan.
Methods
Total body VAT and SAT were quantified in an ethnically-diverse cross-sectional sample of healthy subjects ages 5 – 88 yrs [children (5–17 years): males n = 88, BMI percentile (X ± SD), 61.9 ± 27.1; females, n = 59, BMI percentile, 60.0 ± 28.4; adults (≥ 18 yrs): males, n = 164, BMI, 25.6 ± 3.7 kg/m2, and females, n = 188, BMI, 25.5 ± 5.4 kg/m2]. Subjects completed a whole-body magnetic resonance imaging scan and images were then segmented for VAT and SAT; total compartment volumes were calculated from respective slice areas. Sex and age distributions were evaluated by generating quadratic and cubic smoothing lines fitted to the data. Plots were developed with and without adjustment for total adipose tissue, ethnicity, and menopausal status in women. VAT and SAT volumes were both larger with greater age.
Results
In adulthood, VAT was larger in males than in females with and without adjustment. In contrast, SAT volume was larger in females than in males after entering puberty and sex differences remained, with and without adjustment, across the remaining lifespan.
Conclusion
Based on observations made in this cross-sectional sample, VAT and SAT volumes were variably larger with greater age across most of the human lifespan, although the relatively small number of children warrants future larger scale studies to validate our observations. Moreover, the pattern and magnitude of adipose tissue "growth" differed between males and females, with the mechanistic basis of this sexual dimorphism only partially understood. These descriptive observations in a large cross-sectional cohort provide an initial foundation for future longitudinal and cohort studies.