PARENTAL OBESITY INFLUENCES THE EARLY ONSET OF OBESITY AND THE OVERWEIGHT DEGREE IN CHILDREN.

Objectives: Childhood obesity is known to be associated with
an increased risk of cardiovascular and metabolic
complications in adulthood.
In this cross-sectional, observational study authors
investigated which variables may influence precocious onset
and severity of overweight and which laboratory alterations
were already proven at the first assessment in a population of
overweight and obese children.
Methods: We recruited 260 boys and girls(from 2 to 18
years),with simple overweight/obesity. Each patient
underwent anamnestic avaluation, physical examination and
fasting blood sampling for glucose, insulin and lipid profile.
HOMA-IR, triglyceride-to-HDL-cholesterol ratio and
atherogenic index of plasma were evaluated.
Results: Family history for obesity and/or arterial
hypertension and/or diabetes was related to a more severe
degree of overweight among children(p=0.002). A more
severe obesity was demonstrated in younger children
(p<0.0005).HOMA-IR resulted higher among children with the
most severe obesity(p=0.04), who were younger. BMI SD was
a significant predictor of HOMA-IR>2.5 (OR 2.39; 95% CI 1.15
to 4.97;p=0.01).
Conclusions: Family history of obesity and cardiometabolic
disease must be considered a risk factor for precocious
obesity onset in children. Insulin resistance is demonstrated
even among the youngest. BMI SD is useful to stratify the
severity of obesity in order to estimate the cardiometabolicrisk
of each patient.