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Growth of Skinfold Thickness in the Undernourished Santal Children: A Focus on the Purulia District of India

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Handbook of Famine, Starvation, and Nutrient Deprivation

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Abstract

The skinfold thickness in different locations like tricep, bicep, subscapular, suprailiac, and calf generally measures the subcutaneous fat deposition in the body. These skinfold parameters may be used to assess nutritional status in children as the subcutaneous fat deposition varies with the changes in nutritional status of children. Santals are backward tribal community of India, and in the present review the growth of the skinfold thickness of Santal children has been considered to evaluate the status of skinfold in undernutrition. Undernutrition does not affect the skinfold thickness in different locations uniformly, and the sensitivities of skinfold thickness of some locations are good markers (triceps skinfold, TRSF, and subscapular skinfold, SBSF), while others may not be changed with undernutrition (suprailiac skinfold, SPSF; biceps skinfold, BCSF; and calf skinfold, CSF). SBSF and TRSF were strongly associated with the nutritional status (HAZ) in Santal boys, whereas in Santal girls, TRSF appeared to be strong predictor to assess nutritional status. TRSF is a sensitive indicator of undernutrition in both the boys and girls, and SBSF is less sensitive to identify undernutrition in girls but not in boys. The triceps-for-age z-score (TAZ) appears to be better indicator of undernutrition than that of height-for-age z-score (HAZ) and weight-for-age z-score (WAZ) in Santal children. The growth and velocity of growth of different skinfold thickness in well-nourished Santal children was found to be changed in undernourished Santal boys and girls.

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Abbreviations

BCSF:

Biceps skinfold

BMI:

Body mass index

CSF:

Calf skinfold

FFMI:

Fat-free mass index

HAZ:

Height-for-age z-score

MUAC:

Mid-upper arm circumference

NCHS:

National Center for Health Statistics

NHANES:

National health and nutrition examination survey

PTG:

Primitive Tribal Groups’

SAZ:

SBSF-for-age z-score

SBSF:

Subscapular skinfold

SPSF:

Suprailiac skinfold

STSSF:

Sum of triceps and subscapular skinfold

STSSFAZ:

Sum of triceps and subscapular skinfold thickness-for-age z-score

TAZ:

TRSF-for-age z-score

TRSF:

Triceps skinfold

UAFA:

Upper arm fat area

UAMA:

Upper arm muscle area

UAMAH:

Upper arm muscle area by height

UAMC:

Upper arm muscle circumference

WHO:

World Health Organization

WHZ:

Weight-for-height z-score

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, Basirhat College, Basirhat, West Bengal, India

    Sutanu Dutta Chowdhry

  2. Department of Physiology, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

    Tusharkati Ghosh

Authors
  1. Sutanu Dutta Chowdhry
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  2. Tusharkati Ghosh
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Correspondence to Tusharkati Ghosh .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Diabetes & Nutritional Sci Div Sch, King's College London, London, United Kingdom

    Victor Preedy

  2. Clinical Biochemistry, University of Westminster, Westminster, United Kingdom

    Vinood B. Patel

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Chowdhry, S.D., Ghosh, T. (2018). Growth of Skinfold Thickness in the Undernourished Santal Children: A Focus on the Purulia District of India. In: Preedy, V., Patel, V. (eds) Handbook of Famine, Starvation, and Nutrient Deprivation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40007-5_117-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40007-5_117-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-40007-5

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