Characterization of Obesity in the Prader-Labhart-Willi Syndrome: Fatness Patterning.

A multidisciplinary study involving cytogenetic, clinical, and anthropometric assessments of Prader-Labhart-Willi Syndrome (PLWS) has focused on improving diagnosis and prognosis in this complex condition. Since one of the major features of PLWS is obesity, 7 of the 26 measurements in the anthropometric evaluation were skinfold thicknesses at different body sites. Forty individuals with PLWS have been assessed. Z-scores were computed for skinfold measurements to examine quantitative differences for fatness at different sites. Data on PLWS individuals, grouped by age, sex, and chromosome type, were compared with normative data for skinfolds. The results suggest that males with PLWS have three times the fatness scores of other males their age, while scores for PLWS females average only twice those of normals. Our research illustrates the utility of anthropometry in the evaluation of patients in clinical genetics and offers a comprehensive approach to the heterogeneity observed in PLWS.