Metabolic abnormalities in obese children attending a tertiary care centre in South India

Methods This is a prospective descriptive study of 80 children and adolescents, between 5.0-16.0 years of age, who were obese or overweight attending the Pediatric Endocrinology Clinic of the Christian Medical College, Vellore, S India during October 2011 to February 2012. All children with syndromic obesity, hypopituitarism, hypothyroidism, familial hyperlipidemia, and on steroids or on pharmacotherapy for obesity were excluded from the study. Body weight (kg), standing height (cm), waist circumference (cm), hip circumference (cm) and repeated blood pressures were measured in all subjects. Blood investigations included fasting glucose and 2 hour post prandial glucose levels, fasting insulin levels, HbA1C levels and fasting lipid profile.