الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Childhood obesity has been one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century. Obesity has serious consequences for health, as dyslipidemia, T2DM, HTN and NAFLD. Several experts and advisory groups have recommended BMI as the preferred measure for evaluating obesity among children and adolescents. BMI expresses the weight for height relationship as a ratio, that is weight (in kilograms)/[height (in meters)]2. Children with BMI equal to or exceeding the age gender specific 95th percentile are defined as obese. Those with BMI equal to or exceeding the 85th but are below 95th percentile are defined as overweight. The principal aim of the present study is to determine presence of NAFLD/NASH in Obese children and to assess the correlation between the hepatic steatosis with degree of obesity and some biochemical abnormalities (LFTs and lipid profile). In the current study, 40 obese (BMI 95%) children were included who were referred to obesity clinic of Alexandria University Children’s Hospital and 15 non obese, age and sex matched children as control group. Obese children were excluded if they had any endocrinal disease. (eg. hypothyroidism, glucocorticoid excess) or a history of medication that cause hepatic steatosis. All obese children in this study were subjected to thorough history taking, thorough clinical examination stressing on anthropometric measurement and abdominal examination and laboratory investigations including: lipid profile, LFTs and US study for the liver. Obesity has been demonstrated to be associated with Dyslipidemia was 17.5 % had hypercholesterolemia, 15 % had hypertriglyceridemia, 20 % had elevated LDL and 37.5 % had low HDL Fatty liver was detected in 67.5 % among obese children by US, about 33.3% of them sugestive NASH as had elevated transaminase level. There was a significant positive relation between NAFLD with WC and ALT. Also; there was a significant negative correlation between NAFLD and HDL in obese children. from our study, we concluded that childhood obesity is associated with NAFLD and other co-morbidities. The bedside US is a powerful and useful diagnostic tool in the detection of NAFLD. Measurements of WC is important as indicator of central adiposity and are practical tools to identify a subgroup of obese children at greater risk of NAFLD. It is recommended that attention should be given by pediatrician to obesity due to its health impact, so measurement of BMI for-age at least once per year in all children and screening for NAFLD in obese children are recommended. |