Journal
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MEDICINE
Volume 11, Issue 12, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/jcm11123520
Keywords
obesity; childhood; vascular; stiffness
Categories
Funding
- Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [2016-ER6405]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This study aimed to investigate the impact of childhood obesity on the vasculature and found that vascular alterations, including arterial enlargement and arterial stiffening, precede arterial wall thickening, starting from the overweight stage.
Background: Childhood obesity is linked to adverse cardiovascular outcomes in adulthood. This study aimed to assess the impact of childhood obesity on the vasculature and to investigate whether vascular alteration precedes arterial wall thickening in childhood. Methods: A total of 295 overweight (body mass index [BMI] 85th to 95th percentile, n = 30) and obese (BMI >= 95th percentile, n = 234) children aged 7-17 years and 31 normal-weight controls with similar age and gender were prospectively recruited. We assessed anthropometric data and laboratory findings, and measured the carotid intima-media thickness (IMT), carotid artery (CA) diameter, M-mode-derived arterial stiffness indices, and velocity vector imaging parameters, including the CA area, fractional area change, circumferential strain, and circumferential strain rate (SR). Results: The mean +/- standard deviation age of the participants was 10.8 +/- 2.1 years; 172 (58%) children were male. Regarding structural properties, there was no difference in the IMT between the three groups. The CA diameter was significantly increased in obese children, whereas the CA area showed a significant increase beginning in the overweight stage. Regarding functional properties, contrary to beta stiffness and Young's elastic modulus, which were not different between the three groups, the circumferential SR showed a significant decrease beginning in the overweight stage and was independently associated with BMI z-scores after adjusting for covariates. Conclusion: We have demonstrated that arterial stiffening and arterial enlargement precede arterial wall thickening, and that these vascular alterations begin at the overweight stage in middle childhood or early adolescence.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available