Mansoor Ali Khan, Khalid Qureshi, Ziaur Rehman, Masoodur Rauf Hiraj.
Effect of Age and Obesity on Human Male Anterior Abdominal Wall Muscles: An Ultrasonographic Anthropometric Analysis.
Pak J Med Health Sci Jan ;6(2):406-12.

Objectives: To study the differences in the thickness of anterior abdominal wall muscle, in age matched individuals having different body mass indices; and to determine if there is any correlation between the thickness of muscle with that of the body mass index (BMI). Design: Cohort prospective. Methods: 4160 observations were made on 260 healthy men of 20-50 years of age. Regression analysis and Pearson’s correlation coefficient were computed and are statistically highly significant (p<0.01-0.001). Results: Muscles show poor correlationship with that of the BMI and the results are statistically highly significant (p<0.01-0.001). Regressing BMI on abdominal muscles in different Age Groups, it was found that the relationship was linear and positive in 20-40 years, while it was linear and negative in 40-50 years. Conclusion: Increase in abdominal muscles thickness till the fourth decade of life with an increase in obesity; thereafter, in the fifth decade of life there is decline in muscle thickness. Both age and obesity influence the abdominal, subcutaneous fat and muscle thickness.

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