Assessment of serum chemerin level and it's association with obesity indices and hs-CRP in a group of Egyptian obese children

Abstract EN

Background : Childhood obesity is now forming a global problem with subsequent health problems.

It is now claimed that adipokines secreted by adipose tissue are responsible for such consequences.

Chemerin, a recently discovered adipokine, may be linked to obesity and obesity- associated metabolic complications and may form a link between immune system, adipose tissue and inflammation.

Aim: This study aims to assess serum Chemerin among obese children compared to non obese children and assess its relation to the inflammation and obesity indices.

Methods: This comparative cross- sectional study was conducted in collaboration of Faculty of Postgraduate Studies, Ain Shams University, National Research Centre and Cairo University on 45 obese subjects (BMI > 95th percentile) aged from 6 to 11 years recruited from Obesity Clinic of the Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolism Pediatric Unit (DEMPU), Pediatric Hospital, Cairo University and Obesity Clinic at Medical and Scientific Centre of Excellence, National Research Center compared to 45 healthy children age and sex matched.

Serum Chemerin, high- sensitive C- reactive protein (hs- CRP), waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC) were measured; BMI, waist- to- hip ratio (WHR) and waist- height ratio (WHtR) were calculated.

Results: Serum Chemerin was significantly higher in obese than in non- obese children (143.49± 16.598, 87.7± 8 ng /L, respectively, P <0.001).

Among obese children Chemerin concentration had a significant positive correlation with hs- CRP level even after adjusting for BMI, age and sex while no correlation was present with obesity indices (BMI z score, WC Z score, HC, WHR and WHtR).

Conclusion: Chemerin concentration was higher in obese children and hs- CRP was in positive relation with Chemerin level.

Recommendations: Our findings show that Chemerin is linked to inflammation in obese children and thus can be considered as an early marker of the inflammatory process in obesity.