WEDNESDAY, Aug. 10 (HealthDay News) -- Girls with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) have anthropometric differences, including lower mean weight, lower body mass index (BMI), and higher ponderal index (IP), compared to healthy age-matched peers, according to a study published in the Aug. 15 issue of Spine.
Carlos Barrios, M.D., Ph.D., from Valencia University Medical School in Spain, and colleagues examined the anthropometric and body composition parameters of adolescent girls with AIS, and compared them with standards of healthy age-matched peers. A total of 52 girls (mean age 13.9 years) with AIS (none previously treated with spinal surgery) and an average scoliotic curve of 27 degrees Cobb, and 92 girls in the control group, were included. Weight, height, and skin-fold thickness were measured, and BMI, IP, percentage of body fat, muscular tissue, fat mass, lean body mass, muscular weight, bony weight, and residual weight were determined. Somatotype components (endomorphy, mesomorphy, and ectomorphy) were also calculated.
The investigators found that, compared to controls, girls with AIS had significantly lower mean weight, lower BMI, higher IP, and a non-statistically significantly lower percentage of body fat. A progressive decrease in BMI with increasing age was seen in girls with AIS. Eleven of the AIS group and three of the control group had a BMI below 17.5 (21.2 versus 3.3 percent). The somatotype of the two groups was different, with the AIS group significantly higher in the ectomorphic component and lower in the mesomorphic component.
"Compared to age-matched healthy controls, girls with AIS showed some anthropometric differences (lower weight, lower BMI, and higher IP)," the authors write.
Abstract
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