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Adiposity-Age Distribution and Nutritional Status in Girls With Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis

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Abstract

Study Design

Cross-sectional comparative study.

Objectives

To assess the adiposity-age distribution in girls with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) and to define the prevalence of underweight, overweight, and obesity in these patients as compared with healthy controls.

Summary of Background Data

The current literature focusing the nutritional status of individuals with AIS does not provide data on the prevalence of overweight in these patients.

Methods

The sample consisted of 112 adolescent girls with idiopathic scoliosis and 231 healthy age-matched girls from the same geographic region. Three different validated body mass index (BMI) cutoffs for adolescents were used to define the nutritional status. Adiposity was labeled according to Adiposity & Fat Distribution for Adolescents (AFAD-A) criteria.

Results

There were significant differences in BMI and fat percentage according to age (p < .005) in both AIS patients and healthy controls. The overall prevalence of underweight was similar in both groups (scoliotic girls, 4.5%; controls, 4.8%). Obesity was more prevalent in AIS patients than in healthy controls. The World Health Organization–2007 and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cutoffs detected similar percentages of AIS girls with obesity (10.7%) and healthy controls (5.4%). The International Obesity Taskforce detected a 6.3% of AIS girls with obesity and only 3.0% in controls. Fat-age distribution gradually decreases from 11–13 to 16–17 years in AIS patients (p < .05). The overall prevalence of adolescents with fat overload (body fat index [BFI] >7.6) was similar in both groups (AIS, 0.9%; controls, 0.8%).

Conclusions

The proportion of adolescents with obesity was twofold higher among AIS girls than in age-matched healthy controls. However, in AIS girls, the BFI differed from that shown by healthy peers, being lower along the middle adolescence period (13–15 years). AIS girls showed an important increase in underweight at late adolescence (16–17 years).

Level of Evidence

Level III, diagnostic.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Nursing and the Institute for Research on Musculoskeletal Disorders, Valencia Catholic University, Carrer de Quevedo, 2, Valencia, 46001, Spain

    Dolores Escrivá NR, PhD

  2. Institute for Research on Musculoskeletal Disorders, Valencia Catholic University, Carrer de Quevedo, 2, Valencia, 46001, Spain

    Dolores Escrivá NR, PhD & Carlos Barrios MD, PhD

  3. Surgical Emergency Facilities, Valencia University Hospital, Valencia, Spain

    Inmaculada Benet NR

  4. Division of Pediatric Orthopedics, Hospital Ramón y Cajal, Ctra. Colmenar Viejo, km. 9, 100, Madrid, 28034, Spain

    Jesús Burgos MD, PhD

Authors
  1. Dolores Escrivá NR, PhD
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  2. Inmaculada Benet NR
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  3. Jesús Burgos MD, PhD
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  4. Carlos Barrios MD, PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carlos Barrios MD, PhD.

Additional information

Author disclosures: DE (none), IB (none), JB (none), CB (none).

IRB approval: The institutional review board of the clinic institution involved in the study (Hospital Ramon y Cajal, Madrid, Spain) approved the study.

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Escrivá, D., Benet, I., Burgos, J. et al. Adiposity-Age Distribution and Nutritional Status in Girls With Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis. Spine Deform 7, 565–570 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jspd.2018.10.007

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jspd.2018.10.007

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