Abstract
Childhood obesity continues to escalate worldwide and may affect left ventricular (LV) geometry and function. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of obesity on prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and diastolic dysfunction in children. In this analysis of prospectively collected cross-sectional data of children between 5 and 16 years of age from randomly selected schools in Peru, parameters of LV geometry and function were compared according to presence or absence of obesity (body mass index z-score > 2). LVH was based on left ventricular mass index (LVMI) adjusted for age and sex and defined by a z-score of > 2. LV diastolic function was assessed using mitral inflow early-to-late diastolic flow (E/A) ratio, peak early diastolic tissue velocities of the lateral mitral annulus (E′), early diastolic transmitral flow velocity to tissue Doppler mitral annular early diastolic velocity (E/E′) ratio, and left atrial volume index (LAVI). Among 1023 children, 681 children (mean age 12.2 ± 3.1 years, 341 male (50.1%)) were available for the present analysis, of which 150 (22.0%) were obese. LVH was found in 21 (14.0%) obese and in 19 (3.6%) non-obese children (padjusted < 0.001). LVMI was greater in obese than that in non-obese children (36.1 ± 8.6 versus 28.7 ± 6.9 g/m2.7, p < 0.001). The mean mitral E/E′ ratio and LAVI were significantly higher in obese than those in non-obese individuals (E/E′: 5.2 ± 1.1 versus 4.9 ± 0.8, padjusted = 0.043; LAVI 11.0 ± 3.2 versus 9.6 ± 2.9, padjusted = 0.001), whereas E′ and E/A ratio were comparable. Childhood obesity was associated with left ventricular hypertrophy and determinants of diastolic dysfunction.ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02353663.
Highlights
Childhood obesity continues to escalate worldwide and may affect left ventricular (LV) geometry and function
Hemodynamic and metabolic changes associated with obesity have been shown to promote the development of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and impaired LV diastolic function[8,9], eventually leading to heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF)[10]
In a representative sample of randomly selected children in the range of 5–16 years of age from a cross-sectional study, we found an association between obesity and both LVH and echocardiographic determinants of diastolic dysfunction
Summary
Childhood obesity continues to escalate worldwide and may affect left ventricular (LV) geometry and function. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of obesity on prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and diastolic dysfunction in children. In this analysis of prospectively collected cross-sectional data of children between 5 and 16 years of age from randomly selected schools in Peru, parameters of LV geometry and function were compared according to presence or absence of obesity (body mass index z-score > 2). Hemodynamic and metabolic changes associated with obesity have been shown to promote the development of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and impaired LV diastolic function[8,9], eventually leading to heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF)[10]. The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that children with obesity are at increased risk of LVH and diastolic dysfunction as compared with normal-weight children
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