Relation of subcutaneous fat distribution to percentage of Polynesian ancestry in native Hawaiian children.

A semilongitudinal study of the growth of Hawaiian children from four cohorts was carried out with measurements taken at four consecutive annual visits. Each visit entailed an anthropometric battery, including skinfold measurements at six sites. Additionally, interviews with children and their families elicited information on socioeconomic status, other social conditions, and degree of identification with Hawaiian culture. Genealogies were completed to allow estimates of percentage of Polynesian ancestry (PPA) for the Hawaiian children, with estimates compressed into quartiles of PPA. A principal components analysis of the six skinfold measures for each child was carried out, deriving two components. Components relating to centrality of fat distribution were significantly higher among native Hawaiians than in non-Hawaiians, and the components were significantly related to PPA in analyses of covariance for preadolescent children. The relationship between socioeconomic variables and amount of body fatness appears to be stronger than the relationship between these variables and fat distribution. The results suggest a relatively greater role for Polynesian hereditary influence on fat distribution than on quantity of fat among contemporary native Hawaiian children. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Growth of native Hawaiian school children: II. Body mass index and skinfold measurements.

Annual measurements of skinfold thicknesses at six sites (triceps, biceps, medial calf, subscapular, abdominal, and suprailiac) and the body mass index have been obtained from a sample of native Hawaiian school children and their non-Hawaiian classmates in a four year semilongitudinal study. Four cohorts were measured, with the children beginning the study in grades one, four, seven and ten, respectively. Information on percentage of Polynesian ancestry, identity with Hawaiian culture, social class, and income were obtained from family interviews for the native Hawaiian children. Hawaiian boys at most ages surveyed are significantly fatter than their classmates on trunk sites, and are also fatter than National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey II (NHANES-II) medians. Native Hawaiian girls have significantly greater trunk skinfold measures than classmates in only one surveyed age group. The percentage of Polynesian ancestry in this admixed sample of Hawaiian children is significantly related to fatness and body mass among children aged 9-12 years, but is not clearly related to fatness in other age groups. Socioeconomic measures are also not related to fatness in a simple manner. Intensive study of specific sex-age groups may be required to identify factors that influence the amount of fatness of native Hawaiian school children. © 1992 Wiley-Liss, Inc.