Basic characteristics and main outcomes in studied adolescent males and females.

<p>BMI: body-mass index. Non-adjusted means and standard deviations are presented. Sex differences were evaluated with Student T-test or with non-parametric Wilcoxon test when data were not normally distributed*.</p

Clustering of MetS-defining variables with visceral fat or waist circumference.

<p>Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed with either visceral fat (VF) or waist circumference (WC) and remaining four MetS-defining variables: systolic blood pressure (SBP) and fasting serum concentrations of triglycerides (TG), HDL-cholesterol (HDL-chol) and glucose (Glu). To examine whether identified principal components vary across the cardiovascular protocol, the analysis was repeated for each of its five sections (i.e., supine, standing, sitting, stress and stress recovery). Principal components with eigenvalue>1 and loadings of individual MetS-defining variables ≥0.3 were considered significant <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0082368#pone.0082368-Woolston1" target="_blank">[33]</a>. These analyses were done in males and females separately and males and females together adjusting for sex (sex-pooled analyses). All variables were adjusted for age and when relevant for height prior to sex-separate PCA and additionally for sex prior to sex-pooled PCA.</p

Relationships of VF with SF in adolescent males and females.

<p>A) Magnetic resonance images of analyzed umbilical slices in 2 individuals with similar subcutaneous fat and different visceral fat. B) Univariate correlations between of VF with SF are shown in adolescent males and females. </p

BMI and waist circumference as predictors of VF- and SF-specific quantities (VF and SF adjusted for each other).

<p>Multivariate linear regression models examining the relationships of BMI and waist circumference with each VF and SF (while adjusting for each other) are shown in adolescent males and females. All relationships were also adjusted for potentially confounding effects of age and height when appropriate.</p