Anthropometric indicators for the characterization of body adiposity in healthy pregnant women at the beginning of pregnancy

Abstract

Introduction: Different locations of adipose tissue determine risks for the cardiovascular and metabolic health, without having enough knowledge on how this problem manifests in healthy pregnant at the start of pregnancy. Objectives: To identify possible groups of healthy pregnant women with body adiposity and to evaluate the diagnostic capability of the indicators used. Method: Cross-sectional observational study in 1305 pregnant women in a health area of Santa Clara, from 2012 to 2016. Frequency distributions and central tendency and dispersion measures were developed, as well as clustering techniques and ROC curves (Receiver Operating Characteristic). The general and central adiposity, and the components of corporal and abdominal adiposity were studied. Results: Three clusters of general adiposity and two of central adiposity were identified. The highest average values of body mass index and body fat percentage were in the high cluster of general adiposity (33.5 kg/m2 y 41.6%), whereas for the central adiposity indicators, these values manifested in the group of high central adiposity. The sum of the tricipital and subscapular skinfolds had the largest area under the curve, both for general (0.752) and central body adiposity (0.934); while for the abdominal adiposity corresponded to visceral (0.697) and preperitoneal (0.822) fat. Conclusions: The indicators used identified groups of pregnant women with different levels of general and central adiposity, with more diagnostic capability for the sum of subscapular and tricipital skinfolds.