Adipokines and the Prediction of the Accumulation of Cardiovascular Risk Factors or the Presence of Metabolic Syndrome in Elementary School Children

Background Information is limited about how adipokines predict the accumulation of cardiovascular (CV) risk factors or the presence of metabolic syndrome (MS) in children. Methods and Results The subjects were 321 children (200 boys and 121 girls; 109 normal and 212 obese) aged 6-12 years. Obesity was defined as a body mass index of >= the 95(th) percentile for age and sex. MS was defined by using the newly established Task Force criteria. The levels of the adipokines-adiponectin, leptin, ghrelin, high sensitive C-reactive protein (CRP) and resistin-were measured. Regression analyses revealed that high leptin levels were predictive of the accumulation of CV risk factors in normal weight, obese, and entire (normal weight and obese) group of subjects. High CRP in the normal weight group and low adiponectin in the obese and the entire groups were also independently predictive of the accumulation of risk factors. A high leptin level was solely predictive of the presence of MS in obese and entire groups. Conclusions Leptin was the most sensitive marker for predicting the accumulation of CV risk factors and the presence of MS in elementary school children. Primary prevention is important because both leptin and adiponectin levels abruptly worsened when children obtained any I risk factor. (Circ J 2008; 72: 1874-1878)