Abstract

SILVA, Domingos Lopes da; SANTOS, José Augusto Rodrigues dos  and  MARTINS, Carla Ferreira. Body composition assessment in adults with Down Syndrome . Arq Med [online]. 2006, vol.20, n.4, pp.103-110. ISSN 2183-2447.

Overweight and obesity are risk factors to the premature appearance of cardiovascular diseases. In mental handicapped population with Down syndrome we see a higher prevalence of obesity than in the general population. The present study intended to characterize the body composition of a sample of the Down syndrome adult Portuguese population, according to age and gender. The sample comprised 104 subjects with Down syndrome with ages ranging from 18 to 47 years old. The subjects were divided by gender and age into 4 groups: G1: 30 females =29 years; G2: 20 females =30 years; G3: 34 males =29 years; G4: 20 males =30 years. The anthropometric measures were height and body weight, and biceps, triceps, subscapular, abdominal, suprailiac, thigh and calf skinfolds. Using the body mass index (BMI), we observed a prevalence of overweight and obesity in 68.5% of males and 82,3% of females. We did not find statistically significant differences between ages and gender in relation to BMI. According to this indicator, 54.3% of the sample was classified as obese (62.7% females and 46.3% males). The oldest female group (30-47 years) presented the highest prevalence of obesity (75%). Only the youngest male group (18-29 years) presented a prevalence of obesity lower than 50%. Comparatively to males, females of both groups presented higher values of adiposity. Males had higher body density and higher amount of fat-free mass. According to the percentage of fat mass, males were on the moderate-high level of adiposity, while the females were on the high level of adiposity, which increases the risk of premature appearance of diseases related to body fat excess.

Keywords : Down syndrome; obesity; body mass index; skinfolds.

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