Factors Related to Complications of Childhood Obesity

Ahn, Jong Gyun; Kim, Jeong Mee; Shin, Jeh Hoon

Abstract

PURPOSE: Childhood obesity is associated with complications such as hyperinsulinemia/insulin resistance, dyslipidemia and fatty liver. The aims of this study were to evaluate the difference of measurements between obese and normal weight children and to investigate the factors related to complications of obesity.
METHODS
The body mass index (BMI), trunk and total fat percent, lipid profiles, ALT, AST, leptin, LH, FSH, fasting insulin, glucose, IGF-1, IGFBP-3 were measured in 97 children (49 obese children and 48 non-obese controls). We calculated G/I ratio, loginsuin, HOMA-IR, logHOMA-IR, and QUICKI and evaluated the relationship between each anthropometric data and metabolic data.
RESULTS
Hyperinsulinemia, dyslipidemia and abnormal ALT showed high prevalence in obese children. In obese, BMI was correlated with G/I ratio (r=-0.309, P<0.05), loginsuin (r=0.381, P<0.05), logHOMA-IR (r= 0.342, P<0.05), QUICKI (r=-0.343, P<0.05), ALT (r=0.451, P<0.01)) and AST (r=0.289, P<0.05). Serum insulin level had positive correlation with BMI (r=0.345, P<0.01), serum triglyceride (r=0.332, P<0.05) and all insulin resistance indices (P<0.01). Serum leptin levels were significantly correlated with BMI (r=0.555, P<0.01), trunk (r=0.463, P<0.01)) and total (r=0.506, P<0.01) fat percent, LDL (r=0.350, P<0.05), total cholesterol (r=0.297, P<0.05).
CONCLUSION
BMI is valuable for predicting insulin resistance and prevalence of abnormal ALT or AST. Monitoring of insulin level is helpful to assess the morbidities of obesity. Also, serum leptin level might be an important predictor of obesity.