Introduction Obesity has been increasing in prevalence in U.S. adults, and the current classification on the population level is via body mass index (BMI); however, there has been a recent shift from using BMI for obesity risk to now assessing how the distribution of adiposity affects the individual’s health. The association between weight dynamics throughout adulthood and body composition measurements in postmenopausal women has not been completely evaluated.
Objective To use the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) data, the questionnaire and dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans, to examine if there are differences in five body composition measurements (abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue area (SAT), abdominal visceral adipose tissue area (VAT), whole body fat mass percentage, whole body lean mass percentage, and body mass index (BMI, kg/m2), based off weight dynamics and fluctuation in the lifetimes of the post-menopausal participants, in four models with nested, adjusted covariates.
Materials and Methods We examined how weight trajectory and weight fluctuations and linked this to detailed abdominal adipose tissue deposition patterns through dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans, and regional body composition measures. Descriptive analyses and Least Square Means statistical tests were conducted through SAS, with F-test for statistical significance.
Results The data suggests that postmenopausal women who lost weight or maintained their weight throughout their adulthood had lower abdominal SAT and VAT, BMI, and whole body fat mass percentage measurements in comparison to the group of participants who had their weight steadily increase or fluctuate throughout adulthood. Whole body lean mass percentages showed a reverse distribution pattern. Weight cycling, or having a change of more than 10 pounds, also showed similar patterns, with the groups with the least amount of lifetime weight cycling having lower BMI, SAT, VAT, and whole body fat mass percentage mean values.
Conclusion There are statistically significant differences in the distribution of all five body composition measurements across the different weight dynamics and cycling in all four models. Therefore, it is crucial to incorporate personal, medical history, such as adulthood weight dynamics, into the medical assessment of a patient as a proxy for potential adiposity composition and whole body distribution measures.