著者

野井 信男

出版者

The Showa University Society

雑誌

昭和医学会雑誌 (ISSN:00374342)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.38, no.5, pp.501-512, 1978

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Subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) in 36 parts of the body was examined on 92 junior high school girl subjects in Tokyo, and 167 junior and senior high school girls in Okinawa. During their menarche years, the thickness and distribution of SAT were studied and the following results were obtained :<BR>1) Before menarche, the thickness of SAT on most parts of body was thicker in Tokyo girls than in Okinawa girls, and was especially predominant on the hip, abdomen and the proximal parts of the extremities of Tokyo girls. However, no geography related differences were seen around the nipple and waist.<BR>2) On the premenarche girls in Tokyo, the thickness of SAT was largest primarily at the lower halves of the hip, secondarily at the upper hip and upper posterior thigh, followed by the middle region of the thigh and waist, and the nipple, calf and navel in that order. This distribution pattern of SAT seemed to be nearly the same on the premenarche girls in Okinawa ; although the thickness of SAT around the nipples of Okinawa girls was equal to that in the middle thigh and waist, while on the calf it was thinner than in Tokyo girls.<BR>3) The thickness of SAT in the nipple part proceeded to increase for one year in Tokyo girls and for 2.5-3.5 years in Okinawa girls after menarche. It reached the thickness of hip, middle thigh and waist SAT in Tokyo girls, and matched the largest parts in Okinawa girls.<BR>4) On the post-menarche girls, the thickness of SAT increased strikingly in the thigh, calf and proximal parts of the upper extremities during 1-2 years after menarche in Tokyo, while in Okinawa the thickness gradually enlarged during 3-4 years after menarche and reached the same values as those of Tokyo girls. The thickness of SAT which was seen in the post-menarche girls in Tokyo was greater than in Okinawa in the shoulder, abdomen, hip, anterior parts of the lower extremities and posterior parts of the legs.<BR>5) In the post-menarche years, the development of thickness of SAT was a rapid type in Tokyo and a gradual type of Okinawa. The former seemed to be close to the type seen in Kagoshima prefecture which was reported by Kawamura (1954) .<BR>These facts suggest that the differences in development of thickness of SAT in young girls during their post-menarche years is one of the effects of regional environment differences.