Morphological asymmetry, sex and dominant somatotype among Polish youth.

The aim of the present study was to determine the level of morphological asymmetry among the general population of Polish youth as it correlates to sex and body type. The anthropometric characteristics of a group of 618 Polish youths (354 males aged 19.5 ± 1.2 years and 264 females aged 19.2 ± 1.2 y...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Magdalena Krzykała, Małgorzata Karpowicz, Ryszard Strzelczyk, Beata Pluta, Karolina Podciechowska, Krzysztof Karpowicz
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2020-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238706
id doaj-4168a3762a3e432b9d31b0610a32d91a
record_format Article
spelling doaj-4168a3762a3e432b9d31b0610a32d91a2021-03-03T22:05:16ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032020-01-01159e023870610.1371/journal.pone.0238706Morphological asymmetry, sex and dominant somatotype among Polish youth.Magdalena KrzykałaMałgorzata KarpowiczRyszard StrzelczykBeata PlutaKarolina PodciechowskaKrzysztof KarpowiczThe aim of the present study was to determine the level of morphological asymmetry among the general population of Polish youth as it correlates to sex and body type. The anthropometric characteristics of a group of 618 Polish youths (354 males aged 19.5 ± 1.2 years and 264 females aged 19.2 ± 1.2 years) were evaluated to assess their somatotypes using the Heath-Carter method. Body composition was calculated using the bioelectrical impedance method, and the absolute asymmetry index was used for comparisons between the right and left sides of the body. Significant differentiation was observed between all morphological characteristics (≤ 0.0001) and two body types (≤ 0.0001) among sexes. Females and males largely exhibited endomorphic and mesomorphic somatotypes, respectively. The findings demonstrated that dominant somatotype and sex both affect the level of fat mass asymmetry in the arms and legs. Furthermore, significant variations in the levels of asymmetry between sexes were observed in fat mass in both the arms and legs, with greater variation observed in the arms. In the case of muscle mass, no great differences were observed between men, women, or body types. This study provides new data on the morphological asymmetry of given body composition according to somatotype and sex. This study has potential medical implications, given that a large degree of inter-limb imbalance could be shown to have a negative effect on health; the findings of the present study would therefore be important for arriving at an understanding of how to prevent such imbalances, or to mitigate their negative effects.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238706
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Magdalena Krzykała
Małgorzata Karpowicz
Ryszard Strzelczyk
Beata Pluta
Karolina Podciechowska
Krzysztof Karpowicz
spellingShingle Magdalena Krzykała
Małgorzata Karpowicz
Ryszard Strzelczyk
Beata Pluta
Karolina Podciechowska
Krzysztof Karpowicz
Morphological asymmetry, sex and dominant somatotype among Polish youth.
PLoS ONE
author_facet Magdalena Krzykała
Małgorzata Karpowicz
Ryszard Strzelczyk
Beata Pluta
Karolina Podciechowska
Krzysztof Karpowicz
author_sort Magdalena Krzykała
title Morphological asymmetry, sex and dominant somatotype among Polish youth.
title_short Morphological asymmetry, sex and dominant somatotype among Polish youth.
title_full Morphological asymmetry, sex and dominant somatotype among Polish youth.
title_fullStr Morphological asymmetry, sex and dominant somatotype among Polish youth.
title_full_unstemmed Morphological asymmetry, sex and dominant somatotype among Polish youth.
title_sort morphological asymmetry, sex and dominant somatotype among polish youth.
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
series PLoS ONE
issn 1932-6203
publishDate 2020-01-01
description The aim of the present study was to determine the level of morphological asymmetry among the general population of Polish youth as it correlates to sex and body type. The anthropometric characteristics of a group of 618 Polish youths (354 males aged 19.5 ± 1.2 years and 264 females aged 19.2 ± 1.2 years) were evaluated to assess their somatotypes using the Heath-Carter method. Body composition was calculated using the bioelectrical impedance method, and the absolute asymmetry index was used for comparisons between the right and left sides of the body. Significant differentiation was observed between all morphological characteristics (≤ 0.0001) and two body types (≤ 0.0001) among sexes. Females and males largely exhibited endomorphic and mesomorphic somatotypes, respectively. The findings demonstrated that dominant somatotype and sex both affect the level of fat mass asymmetry in the arms and legs. Furthermore, significant variations in the levels of asymmetry between sexes were observed in fat mass in both the arms and legs, with greater variation observed in the arms. In the case of muscle mass, no great differences were observed between men, women, or body types. This study provides new data on the morphological asymmetry of given body composition according to somatotype and sex. This study has potential medical implications, given that a large degree of inter-limb imbalance could be shown to have a negative effect on health; the findings of the present study would therefore be important for arriving at an understanding of how to prevent such imbalances, or to mitigate their negative effects.
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238706
work_keys_str_mv AT magdalenakrzykała morphologicalasymmetrysexanddominantsomatotypeamongpolishyouth
AT małgorzatakarpowicz morphologicalasymmetrysexanddominantsomatotypeamongpolishyouth
AT ryszardstrzelczyk morphologicalasymmetrysexanddominantsomatotypeamongpolishyouth
AT beatapluta morphologicalasymmetrysexanddominantsomatotypeamongpolishyouth
AT karolinapodciechowska morphologicalasymmetrysexanddominantsomatotypeamongpolishyouth
AT krzysztofkarpowicz morphologicalasymmetrysexanddominantsomatotypeamongpolishyouth
_version_ 1714813448610643968