Metabolic characterization of overweight and obese pediatric patients

Abstract

Introduction: Obesity affects children and adults, and is associated with the appearance of chronic diseases that are not communicable, but that can occur, even at an early age in life. Methods: Retrospective, analytical study of patients discharged from Hospital del Niño Dr. José Renán Esquivel and Hospital José Domingo de Obaldia, diagnosed with overweight, obesity; 185 patients between the ages of 2 to 15 years were studied during the period from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2019. Results: A frequency, in 5 years, of 4.6 overweight and obese patients was found for every thousand hospital discharges. 96% presented obesity and 4% overweight. In individuals older than 10 years, 36.8% met criteria for metabolic syndrome. It was found in the numerical variables: BMI: 31.3Kg /m2, Insulin: 25.8μU /ml, glucose: 110.6mg / dl, HOMA: 6.1, within this group statistically significant differences were found in systolic / diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.0002 / 0.0014), ALT (p = 0.05), triglycerides (p = 0.0001), HDL (p = 0.0001). Of the patients with metabolic syndrome, 80% had severe obesity. In the categorical variables, abnormal: ALT 72.4%, cholesterol 22.9%, triglycerides 68.6% (OR = 6, CI = 2.4-14.97), LDL 28.6%, HDL 71.4% (OR: 8.65, CI = 3.31-22.56), insulin 66.6%, glucose 52.9% (OR = 7.87, CI = 2.78-22.27) and insulin resistance in 81.4%. The prepubertal age group is not exempt from insulin resistance. Conclusions: In this study it was found that the most significant metabolic complications were hypertriglyceridemia, low HDLc and arterial hypertension. The frequency found is well below that reported in the literature. The development of adequate health promotion strategies is urgent, to promote changes in eating habits and physical activity from childhood, to form behaviors that remain over time, as preventive measures for obesity and its complications.