Abstract

Sarcopenic obesity (SO) is characterized by a decrease of lean mass and increase of adipose tissue and is associated with various metabolic disorders in adults. The influence of the body composition on the metabolic profile in obese children remains unclear as yet. The purpose of the research was to assess body composition and metabolic profile in children with sarcopenic obesity Methods used: cross-sectional, single-center study was conducted in Feb. 2020-Jul. 2022 which included 116 children (55 boys, 61 girls) with simple obesity (SDS BMI 2.5 [2.2;2.7]) aged 7 to 17 y/o (average age 14.2 [12.3;15.5] y/o) divided into two groups depending on the presence of sarcopenic obesity. The group with sarcopenic obesity ("SO+") included 56 children (19 boys, 37 girls) with simple obesity (SDS BMI 2.5 [2.2; 2.6]). The control group ("SO-") consisted of 60 children (36 boys, 24 girls) with constitutionally exogenous obesity (SDS BMI 2.5 [2.2; 2.7]) without sarcopenia. Results: children with sarcopenic obesity were characterized by an increase in adipose tissue (39.1% [36.4; 41.9] vs 30.6% [27.6; 32.4]; p<0.0001), decrease in lean mass (55.6 [44.8; 63.7] vs 45.6 [39.5; 49.7] kg; p<0.0001) and skeletal muscle mass decrease (25.0 [19.2; 28.2] vs 19.4 [16.3; 22.4] kg; p<0.0001) - all compared to the "SO-" group. There were no statistically significant differences in the frequency of detection of impaired glucose tolerance (p=0.672), insulin resistance (p=0.871) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (p=0.657) in both groups. Conclusion: sarcopenic obesity in children is characterized by a reduction of lean mass and skeletal muscle mass and is not accompanied by changes in the metabolic profile. It makes difficult to stratify metabolic risks in this group of pediatric patients.

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