Assessment of nutritional status: Triceps and subscapular skin-fold thickness in Turkish children and adolescent

Objectives: To determine the mean and percentile values and constitute the percentile curves of the triceps and subscapular skin-fold thickness (SFT) for obtaining a measure to be used in evaluating nutritional status of children and adolescents for age and gender to determine the threat of adiposity in Turkish children.

Methodology: This cross-sectional study was carried out between October 2006 and May 2007 with 6917 students selected among those with pre-defined socio-economic criteria and attending primary schools in Van city center. Based on these data, the subjects were distributed to age groups in 6-month intervals, beginning from the age of 7 up to the age of 17.

Results: Analysis of mean values of the thickness of triceps and subscapular SFT according to age in boy subjects demonstrated that these values generally increased with age up to thirteen years of age where peak values were observed, and the thickness decreased between 14 and 15 years of age, increasing again thereafter. A comparison of our data with the data reported from other countries revealed lower than median values of triceps and subscapular SFT in our study for both girls and boys regardless of the age group.

Conclusions: Subcutaneous fat accumulation is lower in Turkish children compared to those in other countries and no risk of obesity is imminent, at least in the region where this study was carried out.