Paediatric obesity

While Type 2 Diabetes in childhood has become increasingly prevalent throughout the world, in our service we found that only 2% (7/320) of children and adolescents with diabetes aged <16 years had type 2 diabetes. All type 2 subjects were overweight or obese and six of seven were non-Caucasian. Mean age at presentation was 12.8 years. Six patients (85%) had complications, most commonly hypertension. Although Type 2 Diabetes in children remains relatively rare in our cohort, identification of these children is important as management differs from Type 1 Diabetes...

The associations among lower extremity functional performance and quality of life in obese youth are unknown. The aims of this study were to compare lower extremity strength, lower extremity functional performance, and health related quality of life between obese and healthy-weight youth and evaluate the relationships between lower extremity performance and health related quality of life in obese youth. Twenty obese and 20 age and sex matched healthy-weight youth were recruited. Peak torque of the major lower extremity muscles were measured...

AIM: This mini review explored the prevalence of white-coat hypertension (WCH), which is very common in children. It results in elevated office blood pressure (BP) but normal ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) readings. METHODS: WCH can only be identified by analysing and comparing office BP readings and ABPM, which periodically records BP every 20-30 minutes over 24-hour period. This study provides initially the background for WCH in adults, together with a comprehensive overview of the most relevant paediatric data on WCH...

BACKGROUND: While adipokines can regulate satiety and energy metabolism, whether they are associated with childhood growth is unclear. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether adipokine levels at birth are associated with growth. METHODS: A total of 2264 singletons and 1144 twins from Upstate KIDS (born 2008-2010) had adiponectin, leptin, resistin and complement factor D measured in newborn blood spots. Parents reported anthropometry from paediatric visits via questionnaires every 4-6 months...

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of paediatric hypertension is increasing worldwide, especially due to the childhood obesity epidemic, and is an important public-health concern. While the Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) was already shown to be impaired in the adult hypertensive population, a scarcity of data still exists on HRQoL in paediatric hypertensive patients. Our purpose was thus to assess the HRQoL of children and adolescents with arterial hypertension, using self- and proxy-reports, and to determine the correlations between child and parent questionnaire scores...

OBJECTIVES: To determine the feasibility of balanced steady-state free precession (b-SSFP) imaging for measuring hepatic steatosis in obese children and adolescents, using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1 H MRS) as reference standard. METHODS: 182 obese Chinese paediatric patients underwent conventional T1-weighted dual echo MRI, 1 H MRS and b-SSFP imaging for non-invasive assessment of hepatic steatosis. RESULTS: There was a strong positive correlation between liver fat fraction (FF) on T1-weighted dual echo MRI and 1 H MRS-determined liver fat content (LFC) (r = 0...

INTRODUCTION: The negative impact of overweight and obesity is potentially greater in children affected by a congenital heart disease (CHD). The aim of this study is to calculate the proportion of overweight and obesity in children who underwent an intervention for CHD, and to investigate systolic arterial hypertension as a possible early cardiovascular complication. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted on patients aged 6 to 17 years treated for CHD, and healthy control subjects, followed-up in a Paediatric Cardiology Clinic...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: A significant gap exists in longitudinal evidence on early exposure to artificially sweetened beverages (ASBs) and weight outcomes for paediatric populations. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between ASB/sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption at 4-5 years and risk of overweight and obesity at 7-8 years. METHODS: Data from a nationally representative cohort (n = 2986) in Scotland were analysed using logistic regression to evaluate the association between exposure to ASBs/SSBs at 4-5 years and risk of overweight and obesity at 7-8 years...

OBJECTIVES: Physical activity is an important part of children's health and social development. Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) can lead to decreased physical activity and quality of life. This study characterised clinical aspects, physical activity rates, obesity, and screen time in a group of JIA patients. METHODS: Ninety-seven JIA patients in the Paediatric Rheumatology Clinic at Meir Medical Center were evaluated over a 6-month period and compared by statistical methods to 98 age-matched healthy controls...

BACKGROUND: In light of high rates of obesity and weight stigma in youth, the American Academy of Paediatrics recommends that paediatric health care professionals use appropriate, sensitive and non-stigmatizing language in communication about weight with youth. For these efforts to be effective, there is a need to identify weight-based language preferences among youth with overweight and obesity, as research in this area is scarce. OBJECTIVES: The present study provides a systematic assessment of youth perspectives of weight-based language used by providers...

In covariate (sub)models of population pharmacokinetic models, most covariates are normalized to the median value; however, for body weight, normalization to 70 kg or 1 kg is often applied. In this article, we illustrate the impact of normalization weight on the precision of population clearance (CLpop ) parameter estimates. The influence of normalization weight (70, 1 kg or median weight) on the precision of the CLpop estimate, expressed as relative standard error (RSE), was illustrated using data from a pharmacokinetic study in neonates with a median weight of 2...

For some years now, the WHO has recommended less than 10% of energy intake from free sugars. The same document also stresses the need to bring this limit below 5% as soon as possible. These guidelines have been promoted with the aim of reducing the prevalence of chronic non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity and metabolic syndrome. At the same time, the reduction of free sugars in the diet can be part of a strategy to reduce the prevalence of caries, which is known to be an infectious and transmissible multifactorial disease known to be "triggered" by wrong dietary habits...

AIM: We evaluated how effectively the waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) identified cardiometabolic risk (CMR) in children and adolescents, compared with the tri-ponderal mass index, percentage of body fat and other obesity indexes. METHODS: Eligible subjects were recruited from three metropolitan regions of China from May 2013 to June 2014. Subjects with at least three of the following abnormalities - hypertension, dyslipidemia, elevated fasting blood glucose and central obesity - were defined as CMR1 and children with at least two were defined as CMR2...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

AIM: To describe the body composition, dietary intake and physical activity and of paediatric, adolescent and young adult childhood cancer survivors (CCS) and examine the factors that impact body composition after treatment. METHODS: This prospective cross-sectional study involved 74 subjects who were at least three years post treatment. Measurements included anthropometry, whole body potassium counting, air displacement plethysmography, and three day physical activity and diet diaries...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

AIM: Hospitalization for heart failure amongst younger men has increased. The reason for this is unknown but it coincides with the obesity epidemic. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between childhood BMI (Body Mass Index) and BMI change during puberty for risk of adult heart failure in men. METHODS: Using the BMI Epidemiology Study (BEST), a population-based study in Gothenburg, Sweden, we collected information on childhood BMI at age 8 years and BMI change during puberty (BMI at age 20 - BMI at 8) for men born 1945-1961, followed until December 2013 (n = 37 670)...

In the 1980s, mouse nuclear transplantation experiments revealed that both male and female parental genomes are required for successful development to term ( McGrath and Solter, 1983; Surani and Barton, 1983). This non-equivalence of parental genomes is because imprinted genes are predominantly expressed from only one parental chromosome. Uniparental inheritance of these genomic regions causes paediatric growth disorders such as Beckwith-Wiedemann and Silver-Russell syndromes (reviewed in Peters, 2014). More than 100 imprinted genes have now been discovered and the functions of many of these genes have been assessed in murine models...

Sports drinks and caffeinated energy drinks (CEDs) are commonly consumed by youth. Both sports drinks and CEDs pose potential risks for the health of children and adolescents and may contribute to obesity. Sports drinks are generally unnecessary for children engaged in routine or play-based physical activity. CEDs may affect children and adolescents more than adults because they weigh less and thus experience greater exposure to stimulant ingredients per kilogram of body weight. Paediatricians need to recognize and educate patients and families on the differences between sport drinks and CEDs...