Table 2.
Quantitative anatomical measures of subcutaneous (SCF) and intermuscular fat (IMF) of the thigh in women and men, and sex differences of these measures; anatomical measures of the IPFP in this subset are reported for comparison
| Woman (n=12) Mean± SD |
Men (n=13) Mean± SD |
Absolute difference |
Percent difference |
p- value (unpaired t-test) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Body height (m) | 1.58± 54.4 | 1.73± 52.8 | +149.8 | +9 | <0.001 |
| Body weight (kg) | 58.3± 8.90 | 78.8± 8.89 | +20.5 | +35 | <0.001 |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 23.3± 3.34 | 26.2± 2.86 | +3.00 | +13 | 0.024 |
| Age (years) | 52.1± 5.62 | 61.1± 10.6 | +8.99 | +17 | 0.015 |
|
| |||||
| Thigh Total Area | 157.8± 34.6 | 172.1± 22.2 | +14.34 | +9 | 0.23 |
| SCF (cm2) | 63.9± 31.8 | 31.7± 9.05 | −32.2 | −50 | 0.002 |
| SCF % | 38.6± 10.9 | 18.3± 3.86 | −20.32 | −53 | <0,001 |
| IMF (cm2) | 7.80± 1.87 | 8.98± 3.22 | +1.18 | +15 | 0.28 |
| IMF % | 5.09± 1.49 | 5.20± 1.65 | +0.11 | +2 | 0.87 |
|
| |||||
| IPFP Ant. S. (cm2) | 14.9± 2.69 | 20.9± 3.15 | +6.05 | +40 | <0.001 |
| IPFP thick. (mm) | 12.5± 1.90 | 13.6± 1.49 | +1.08 | +8 | 0.13 |
| IPFP vol. (cm3) | 18.4± 2.89 | 28.4± 4.48 | +9.99 | +54 | <0,001 |
| IPFP vol./BW | 0.32± 0.05 | 0.36± 0.05 | +0.04 | +13 | 0.051 |
SCF = subcutaneous fat tissue content; IMF = intermuscular fat tissue content; SCF/IMF% = proportion of the SCF and IMF on the thigh total cross sectional areas in percent; for other abbreviations, please see Table 1; Of these 25 subjects, 24 were part of the 99 participants without signs of radiographic femorotibial OA in the central readings, but one was part of the larger cohort. In this participant, the right knee (the one examined here) had a KL grade=0 (normal), but the left showed definite osteophytes. This knee was only included for the purpose to compare the sex differences in the IPFP directly with those in thigh adipose tissue (Table 2), but not in the comparison presented in Table 1.