Insulin Resistance, Dyslipidemia and Cardiovascular Changes in a Group of Obese Children

INTRODUCTION Obesity-related comorbidities are present in young obese children, providing a platform for early adult cardiovascular disorders. OBJECTIVES To compare and correlate markers of adiposity to metabolic disturbances, vascular and cardiac morphology in a European pediatric obese cohort. METHODS We carried out an observational and transversal analysis in a cohort consisting of 121 obese children of both sexes, between the ages of 6 and 17 years. The control group consisted of 40 children with normal body mass index within the same age range. Markers of adiposity, plasma lipids and lipoproteins, homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance, common carotid artery intima-media thickness and left ventricular diameters were analyzed. RESULTS There were statistically significant differences between the control and obese groups for the variables analyzed, all higher in the obese group, except for age, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and adiponectin, higher in the control group. In the obese group, body mass index was directly correlated to left ventricular mass (r=0.542; p=0.001), the homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (r=0.378; p=<0.001) and mean common carotid artery intima-media thickness (r=0.378; p=<0.001). In that same group, insulin resistance was present in 38.1%, 12.5% had a combined dyslipidemic pattern, and eccentric hypertrophy was the most common left ventricular geometric pattern. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that these markers may be used in clinical practice to stratify cardiovascular risk, as well as to assess the impact of weight control programs.