Subcutaneous adipose tissue distribution in adolescent girls of four ethnic groups.

Abstract

Adolescent girls in the four ethnic groups differed significantly in the three skinfold ratios and in the first principal component, which contrasted trunk and extremity skinfolds. The sequence from proportionally more to proportionally less trunk SAT was as follows: Asian > Mexican > White > Black. Two other principal components were identified, one contrasting the upper and lower extremity skinfolds and the other contrasting the upper and lower trunk skinfolds, but ethnic differences in these two components were not significant.