Background

The infra-patellar fat pad (IPFP) represents a potential mediator between obesity, low grade inflammation, and knee osteoarthritis via endocrine pathways. Yet, not only in adults, but also in childhood obesity negatively impacts knee structures.

Objective

The current study therefore investigated the sex-specific growth of the IPFP with age and body weight in healthy children and adolescents.

Materials and Methods

Thirty young healthy subjects (60% girls; age 4–17 years, body weight 14–90 kg in girls and 29–105 kg in boys; BMI 12.2–32.4 kg/m²) without magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) knee pathology were studied. The IPFP volume was determined from sagittal T-1 weighted and proton-density spectral attenuated inversion recovery MRIs. The primary analysis focused on the sex-specific IPFP volume/body weight ratio as dependent, and age as independent variable, using linear regression models. A secondary analytic focus was the slope of the age-dependence of IPFP volume, without normalization to body weight.

Results

There was no statistically significant association of the IPFP volume/body weight ratio with age in girls (p = 0.57) or boys (p = 0.31), the R² of ranging from −0.32 to 0.14. The ratio was greater in boys (0.54 ± 0.10 cm³/kg) than in girls (0.45 ± 0.07 cm³/kg) (p < 0.01). The IPFP volume increased by approx. 2 cm³ per annum in both girls and boys, without any indication of a non-linear relationship.

Conclusion

Our findings reveal that the ratio of the IPFP volume and body weight remains constant between age 4 and 17 in both normal weight girls and boys, and that the IPFP volume increases linearly with age throughout this period.

中文翻译：

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儿童和青少年of骨下脂肪垫大小与年龄和体重的关系。

背景

pat骨下脂肪垫（IPFP）代表通过内分泌途径在肥胖，低度炎症和膝骨关节炎之间的潜在介体。然而，不仅在成年人中，而且在儿童期肥胖症都对膝部结构产生负面影响。

目的

因此，本研究调查了健康儿童和青少年中IPFP的性别特异性生长随年龄和体重的变化。

材料和方法

30名年轻健康受试者（60％的女孩； 4-17岁的年龄，女孩的体重14-90 kg，男孩的体重29-105 kg； BMI 12.2-32.4 kg / m ²）没有进行磁共振成像（MRI）膝关节病理检查研究。从矢状T-1加权和质子密度谱衰减倒置恢复MRIs确定IPFP体积。主要分析使用线性回归模型，将性别特定的IPFP体积/体重比作为因变量，将年龄作为自变量。次要分析重点是IPFP体积随年龄变化的斜率，而未将体重归一化。

结果

在女孩（p = 0.57）或男孩（p = 0.31）或男孩（p = 0.31）中，IPFP体积/体重比与年龄之间无统计学意义的相关性，R ²的范围为-0.32至0.14。男孩的这一比例更大（0.54±0.10 cm ³ / kg），而女孩的比例更大（0.45±0.07 cm ³ / kg）（p <0.01）。IPFP数量增加了大约 男孩和女孩每年2 cm ³，没有任何非线性关系的迹象。

结论

我们的发现表明，在正常体重的女孩和男孩中，IPFP体积与体重的比率在4至17岁之间保持恒定，并且在此期间，IPFP体积随年龄线性增长。