Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity (Feb 2023)

Cross-Sectional Association Between Body Fat Composition and Biomarkers of Inflammation and Endothelial Dysfunction in Children with Overweight/Obesity

  • Yasin J,
  • Sharma C,
  • Hashim MJ,
  • Al Hamed S,
  • AlKaabi J,
  • Aburawi EH

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 16
pp. 483 – 493

Abstract

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Javed Yasin,1,* Charu Sharma,1,* Muhammad Jawad Hashim,2 Sania Al Hamed,3 Juma AlKaabi,1 Elhadi H Aburawi3 1Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, 15551, United Arab Emirates; 2Departments of Family Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, 15551, United Arab Emirates; 3Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, 15551, United Arab Emirates*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Elhadi H Aburawi; Juma AlKaabi, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Childhood obesity is most prevalent nutritional disorder worldwide. Studies on clinical correlations between body fat (BF) composition, lipid profile, inflammatory biomarkers, and endothelial dysfunction (ED) parameters in children from United Arab Emirates (UAE) are limited. Therefore, we aimed to study obesity pattern in children and determine clinical correlations with biomarkers.Methods: Children (6– 13 years) from different schools were divided into obese, overweight, and normal groups based upon Centers for Disease Control and Prevention weight-for-age centiles study (n=166). Anthropometric, BF composition, lipid profile, inflammatory, and ED biomarkers were determined and analyzed using SPSS software.Results: The mean age and weight ± SD of participants were 10.6 ± 2.6 years and 48.2 ± 19.5 kg with 65% as overweight or obese. In normal, overweight, and obese group male were 40 (70.2%), 35 (67.3%), and 40 (70.2%) and female were 17 (29.8%), 17 (32.7%) and 17 (29.8%). There was significant difference in age (p< 0.01), height (p< 0.01), weight (p< 0.01) among groups. Obesity markers (MCP-1, leptin, adiponectin) showed positive correlation with age, height, weight, WC, BF%, body fat mass (BFM), body muscle mass (BMM). A significant correlation (all p< 0.01) of BMM with SBP (r=0.412), DBP (r=0.255), MCP-1 (r=0.558), adiponectin (r=0.635), hs-CRP (r=0.263), IL-6 (r=0.348), TNF-alpha (r=0.370), ICAM-1 (r=0.237), and VCAM-1 (r=0.343). The inflammatory markers (ICAM-1, VCAM-1) showed significant correlations with age, height, weight, WC, BF%, BFM, BMM. Leptin significantly (all p< 0.01) correlated with age (r=0.470), height (r=0.423), weight (r=0.677), WC (r=0.606), BF (r=0.700), BFM (r=0.752), and BMM (r=0.524) and negatively correlated with TBW (r=− 0.701). Adiponectin also showed a significant (all p< 0.01) positive correlation with age, height, weight, WC, BF, BFM, and BMM.Conclusion: A strong association between BF composition, lipid profile, and inflammatory and ED biomarkers was observed in the study. Thus, immediate measures should be implemented to reduce risk of obesity and associated diseases.Keywords: body fat, inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, obesity, children

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