Ultrasound estimates of visceral and subcutaneous-abdominal adipose tissues in infancy

Other imaging techniques to quantify internal-abdominal adiposity (ia-at) and subcutaneous-abdominal adiposity (sca-at) are frequently impractical in infants. the aim of this study was twofold: (a) to validate ultrasound (us) visceral and subcutaneous-abdominal depths in assessing ia-at and sca-at from mri as the reference method in infants and (b) to analyze the association between us abdominal adiposity and anthropometric measures at ages 3 months and 12 months. twenty-two infants underwent mri and us measures of abdominal adiposity. abdominal us parameters and anthropometric variables were assessed in the cambridge baby growth study (cbgs),n = 487 infants (23 girls) at age 3 months and n = 495 infants (237 girls) at 12 months. us visceral and subcutaneous-abdominal depths correlated with mri quantified ia-at (r = 0.48,p < 0.05) and sca-at (r = 0.71,p < 0.001) volumes,respectively. in cbgs,mean us-visceral depths increased by 20 % between ages 3 and 12 months (p < 0.0001) and at both ages were lower in infants breast-fed at 3 months than in other infants. us-visceral depths at both 3 and 12 months were inversely related to skinfold thickness at birth (p = 0.03 and p = 0.009 at 3 and 12 months,resp.; adjusted for current skinfold thickness). in contrast,us-subcutaneous-abdominal depth at 3 months was positively related to skinfold thickness at birth (p = 0.004). us measures can rank infants with higher or lower ia-at and sca-at. contrasting patterns of association with visceral and subcutaneous-abdominal adiposities indicate that they may be differentially regulated in infancy. © 2013 emanuella de lucia rolfe et al.