[The role and significance of sagittal abdominal diameter in the determination of adipose tissue distribution].

Up-to-now trials have pointed out the importance of determining the type of obesity because the central type of obesity is joined with glucose tolerance disturbance, hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance. The sagittal abdominal diameter proved to be the method of choice in routine clinical practice for visceral fat tissue detection. We examined a group of 60 females in whom, apart from standard measures (body weight, height, body mass index, perimeters of waist and hips), the sagittal abdominal diameter was measured by means of specially constructed caliper (Holtain Kahn Abdominal Caliper).