Extreme Birth Weight and Metabolic Syndrome in Children

Abstract

Small and large birth weights (BWs) for gestational age (GA) represent extremes, but the correlation between extreme BW and metabolic syndrome (MetS) has not been fully elucidated. In this study, we examined this correlation in obese children based on changes in their metabolic profile from childhood to adolescence. A retrospective observational study was performed on 535 obese patients aged 0–18 years in the Clinical and Emergency Hospital for Children “Louis Turcanu” in Timisoara, Romania, based on clinical and biological data from January 2015 to December 2019. We emphasized the links between extreme BW and obesity, extreme BW and cardiometabolic risk, obesity and cardiometabolic risk, and extreme BW, obesity and MetS. Children born large for gestational age (LGA) predominated over those born small for gestational age (SGA). Our findings showed that BW has an independent effect on triglycerides and insulin resistance, whereas obesity had a direct influence on hypertension, impaired glucose metabolism and hypertriglyceridemia. The influences of BW and obesity on the development of MetS and its components are difficult to separate; therefore, large prospective studies in normal-weight patients are needed.

Keywords

• metabolic syndrome
• extreme birth weight
• gestational age
• obesity
• children