Irisin in relation to anthropometric and metabolic parameters in obese children

الملخص EN

Background: Childhood obesity has become a major global health problem in the recent years.

It is the most important public health challenge for the 21st century, not only due to the rapidly increasing prevalence rates among children and adolescents, but also due to the consequences seen in to adulthood.

Children and adolescents constitute around 15% of the 1.5 billion obese population; 75% of them from the developing countries.

Objective: To evaluate Irisin and its relation to anthropometric and metabolic parameters in obese children.

Methodology: The study was carried out at the Child Health Clinic of National Research Centre.

It included 40 obese children of both sexes with body mass index > 95th percentile, in addition to 40 normal weight children with (BMI 15 < 85 percentile) with matching age and sex.

A detailed history was taken.

Full clinical examination, anthropometric assessment, laboratory investigations.

Results: The mean irisin concentration was significantly higher in obese group 34.07± 20.72 pg/ml compared to control group 15.09 ± 8.74 pg/ ml; meanwhile, it showed significant positive correlation with BMI, weight, height and waist circumference, while no significant correlation was noted with family history of chronic diseases, Tanner Staging, sports, age, sex or blood pressure.

Interestingly, our study showed significant positive correlation between irisin and almost all biochemical parameters studied including Insulin, HOMA- R, LDL, Cholesterol, Triglycerides.

However, HDL showed significant negative correlation and glucose correlation was not significant.

The mean SBP was significantly higher in obese group 101.00 ± 4.96 mmhg compared to control group 98.00 ± 5.16 mmhg, while the mean DBP in obese group 66.00 ± 4.96 mmhg compared to control group 63.25 ± 4.74 mmhg; therefore, it was significantly higher in obese group as well.

Conclusion: Irisin is associated with several parameters related to obesity and may play an important role in insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome.