Cardiovascular dysfunction and cardiovascular risk factors in obese school children

Abstract

Child obesity is a major cardiovascular (CV) risk factor and which requires early evaluation including markers for cardiovascular risk factors. Investigation of cardiovascular dysfunction and markers of cardiovascular risk factors in obese schoolchildren. Patients (pts): 32 obese school children (aged 7 to 16 years) and 10 healthy children (similar age group), with normal weight and no CVD (control group). All children were investigated by clinical exam, body mass index (BMI), echocardiography(echo) for cardiac morphological and functional assessment, de-termination of plasma homocysteine(Hcy), cholesterolemia, triglyceridemia, highly sensitive CRP (12 pts) and carotidian intimate-media tickness(c-IMT) (16 cases). Plasma Hcy values were increased in 48% of obese children compared to children with normal weight, correlated with BMI and hypertension (HTA) (6 pts); these values were within the normal range in children with normal weight: – 8.9 ± 1.92 μmol/l vs. 6.1 ± 2.4 μmol/l (control); – *dyslipidemia (54%); – *high carotid intimamedia thickness (c-IMT) values: 44% pts: 0.71 mm vs. 0.38 mm (control); *hsCRP (mg%): – 0.61 ± 1.08 (obese) vs. 0.05 ± 0.18 (control); – *echo: left ventricle hypertrophy-LVH (67% pts), LV diastolic dysfunction/lower shortening fractional (FS) in the LV (34%) and lower ejection fraction (EF) in the LV (48% pts). Heart check-up is necessary in all obese school children in order to diagnose any CV dysfunction and CV risk factors, and to implement early prevention measures to improve their CV prognosis during their adult life. ** clinical monitoring, echo and biological parameters to investigate risk factors allows objective assessment of the effectiveness of prevention measures for CV risk factors in obese school children.