Abstract
Background: Owing to the increasing rate of pediatric obesity, its complications such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) have become prevalent already in childhood. We aimed to assess the relationship between these two diseases in a cohort of children with obesity. Methods: We enrolled 153 children with obesity (mean age 10.5 ± 2.66, mean BMI 30.9 ± 5.1) showing OSA. Subjects underwent a laboratory evaluation, a cardio-respiratory polysomnography (PSG), and a liver ultrasound. Results: All subjects had a clinical diagnosis of OSA based on the AHI > 1/h (mean AHI 8.0 ± 5.9; range 2.21–19.0). Of these, 69 showed hepatic steatosis (62.3% as mild, 20.3% as moderate, and 17.4% as severe degree). A strong association between ALT and apnea/hypopnea index (AHI) was observed (p = 0.0003). This association was not confirmed after adjusting for hepatic steatosis (p = 0.53). By subdividing our population according to the presence/absence of steatosis, this association was found only in the steatosis group (p = 0.009). As the severity of steatosis increased, the significance of its association with AHI compared to the absence of steatosis became progressively stronger (all p < 0.0001). Conclusions: Hepatic steatosis seems to drive the association between OSA and ALT levels, suggesting a potential pathogenic role of OSA in NAFLD.
Highlights
Introduction iationsDuring the past decades, the growing prevalence of pediatric obesity has been accompanied by a parallel increased prevalence in childhood of its cardiometabolic consequences such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), type 2 diabetes (T2D), metabolic syndrome (MetS), cardiovascular disease (CVD), obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and insulin resistance (IR) [1,2,3]
When the population was divided according to the presence/absence of hepatic steatosis, there was a significant association between apnea/hypopnea index (AHI) and alanine transferase (ALT) only in subjects with hepatic steatosis independent of age, sex, body mass index (BMI)-SDS, waist, and HOMA-IR (r2 = 0.071; p = 0.009), but not in those without steatosis (r2 = −0.0097, p = 0.38)
We first showed that the association between ALT levels and AHI seems to be modulated by the presence of ultrasound-detected hepatic steatosis
Summary
The growing prevalence of pediatric obesity has been accompanied by a parallel increased prevalence in childhood of its cardiometabolic consequences such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), type 2 diabetes (T2D), metabolic syndrome (MetS), cardiovascular disease (CVD), obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and insulin resistance (IR) [1,2,3]. Owing to the increasing rate of pediatric obesity, its complications such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) have become prevalent already in childhood. A strong association between ALT and apnea/hypopnea index (AHI) was observed (p = 0.0003). This association was not confirmed after adjusting for hepatic steatosis (p = 0.53).
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