Cardiovascular risk and insulin resistance in childhood leukemia survivors

Abstract

Material and methods: a retrospective study of childhood acute leukemia survivors. Survivors with a diagnosis of leukemia before 16 years of age in a tertiary hospital, during the period of 1998-2018, were selected, who had completed their treatment at least two years earlier. We examined: blood adipokine levels and carbohydrate metabolism, body composition by bioimpedance, and carotid status by ultrasound. Somatometric measures were also taken. Results: the registry showed 82 children diagnosed with acute leukemia, aged between 6 and 16 years. Only 22 met the criteria to be included in the study. Results reveled that 32 % of the sample met the criteria for overweight-obesity, and 36 % had high insulin resistance indexes (IR). Leptin levels were higher in women (15.45 vs. 3.25; p = 0.044) and in obese and overweight subjects, as was the leptin/adiponectin ratio, which rises in the presence of IR (2.52 vs. 0.45; p = 0.037). We observed an increase in carotid intima-media thickness in relation to BMI (0.008; CI, -0.002 to 0.013; p = 0.007) without any association with an increase in fat mass in these patients (0.204; CI, -0.043 to 0.451; p = 0.101). Conclusions: childhood leukemia survivors have a high cardiovascular risk, characterized by an increase in IR, not associated with an increase in fat mass. This risk could justify the implementation of preventive actions in these long-lived patients.