Differences in specific abdominal fat depots between metabolically healthy and unhealthy children with overweight/obesity: The role of cardiorespiratory fitness Cadenas Sánchez, Cristina Ortega Porcel, Francisco Bartolomé Abdominal subcutaneous fat Aerobic capacity Hepatic fat Lumbar bone marrow fat Psoas fat Visceral fat Youth Objectives: Fat depots localization has a critical role in the metabolic health status of adults. Nevertheless, whether that is also the case in children remains under-studied. Therefore, the aims of this study were: (i) to examine the differences between metabolically healthy (MHO) and unhealthy (MUO) overweight/ obesity phenotypes on specific abdominal fat depots, and (ii) to further explore whether cardiorespiratory fitness plays a major role in the differences between metabolic phenotypes among children with overweight/obesity. Methods: A total of 114 children with overweight/obesity (10.6 ± 1.1 years, 62 girls) were included. Children were classified as MHO (n = 68) or MUO. visceral (VAT), abdominal subcutaneous (ASAT), intermuscular abdominal (IMAAT), psoas, hepatic, pancreatic, and lumbar bone marrow adipose tissues were measured by magnetic resonance imaging. Cardiorespiratory fitness was assessed using the 20 m shuttle run test. Results: MHO children had lower VAT and ASAT contents and psoas fat fraction compared to MUO children (difference = 12.4%–25.8%, all p < 0.035). MUO-unfit had more VAT and ASAT content than those MUO-fit and MHO-fit (difference = 34.8%–45.3%, all p < 0.044). MUO-unfit shows also greater IMAAT fat fraction than those MUO-fit and MHO-fit peers (difference = 16.4%–13.9% respectively, all p ≤ 0.001). In addition, MHO-unfit presented higher IMAAT fat fraction than MHO-fit (difference = 13.4%, p < 0.001). MUO-unfit presented higher psoas fat fraction than MHO-fit (difference = 29.1%, p = 0.008). Conclusions: VAT together with ASAT and psoas fat fraction, were lower in MHO than in MUO children. Further, we also observed that being fit, regardless of metabolic phenotype, has a protective role over the specific abdominal fat depots among children with overweight/obesity. 2023-06-29T10:06:58Z 2023-06-29T10:06:58Z 2023-04 journal article Cadenas‐Sanchez, C., Medrano, M., Villanueva, A., Cabeza, R., Idoate, F., Osés, M., ... & Labayen, I. (2023). Differences in specific abdominal fat depots between metabolically healthy and unhealthy children with overweight/obesity: The role of cardiorespiratory fitness. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports.[DOI: 10.1111/sms.14372] https://hdl.handle.net/10481/82941 10.1111/sms.14372 eng nfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/Horizon 2020/101028929 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ open access Atribución 4.0 Internacional Wiley