CHARACTERISTIC OF AGEAND SEX-RELATED VARIABILITY OF THE HEATH-CARTER SOMATOTYPE IN ADULTS AND POSSIBILITY OF ITS BIOIMPEDANCE ASSESSMENT (AS EXEMPLIFIED BY RUSSIAN POPULATION OF EASTERN SIBERIA)

Data of cross-sectional anthropological study of 3954 ethnically Russian males and females aged 16-86 years living in Eastern Siberia were used to characterize age- and sex-related differences of the Heath-Carter somatotype. Average somatotypes in subgroups of Russian males and females showed similar significant age-related changes with parallel increase in endomorphy and mesomorphy components till the age of 60. It was found that endo-mesomorphic body type prevailed in males, while mesoendomorphic type was more common in females. In age groups over 60, in both subgroups, a pronounced shift of an average somatotype in the direction of endomorphy was observed followed by an involution of soma components. In all age groups, marked sex-related differences in endo- and mesomorphy were observed, as well as ectomorphy (except for the age group of 20-29 years). The groups of young Buryats (n = 249), Tuvinians (n = 426) and Khakasses (n = 355) also showed a pronounced sexual dimorphism of somatotype. The possibility of bioimpedance-based assessment of the first and second components of the Heath-Carter somatotype in adults was shown with the precision similar to that of the respective formulae for children and adolescents. Unlike formulae proposed earlier for children and youths, the formulae obtained for adults depend on age and sex, and also there is nonlinear relationship between endomorphy and the body mass index.

anthropometry, adults, Heath, Carter somatotype, bioimpedance assessment, age- and sex-related differences