Background: Body fat distribution is defined as the pattern of fat deposits in different regions of the body and usually expressed as a ratio. There are few studies on the relationship between blood pressure and the ratio of central fat measured on dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in childhood.
Methods and results: The source population consisted of 521 fifth-grade children who attended elementary school in Hamamatsu, Japan, with 401 (77.0%) included in the study. Regional fat was determined using a DXA scanner in a mobile test room. The ratio of trunk to appendicular fat was calculated as trunk fat mass divided by appendicular (arms and legs) fat mass. In boys, the trunk-to-appendicular fat ratio was significantly related to systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure after adjusting for confounding factors such as height and pubic hair appearance. In addition, an increase in trunk-to-appendicular fat ratio was related to an increase in blood pressure after adjusting for confounding factors including whole body fat volume and trunk fat volume. The relationship between fat distribution and blood pressure was not observed in girls.
Conclusions: An excessive proportion of trunk fat was related to increased blood pressure in the boys in a general population of Japanese children. The relationship between fat distribution and blood pressure was independent of the relationship between fat volume and blood pressure.