The evaluation of new generation cardiovascular risk markers in childhood obesity

Obesity, which can be defined as excessive fat accumulation in the body, is a global health problem. Prevalence of the obesity and its complications continue to increase because of the factors like easy access to high-energy food and decreased physical activity. Cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension, coronary artery diseases, arrythmias constitute a significant part of obesity related morbidity and mortality. Since the effects of obesity on cardiovascular system has been shown to start in the childhood without clinical findings, elucidating the mechanisms of cardiovascular changes associated with childhood obesity became more important. In this study, we aimed to investigate some biochemical parameters which may be involved in the obesity related pathologic processes of cardiovascular diseases. 177 children were included in the study, and they were divided into 4 groups according to their body mass index percentiles and presence of the metabolic syndrome: children with normal body mass index, obese children, morbid obese children, and children with metabolic syndrome. High-sensitivity cardiac troponin T, cardiac myosin binding protein C, trimethylamine N-oxide, soluble tumor necrosis factor-like weak inducer, chromogranin A, multimerin-2 levels and other were measured from serum samples of the children. Anthropometric measurements and clinical findings of the children were recorded. Children with normal body mass index had significantly higher chromogranin A levels than children that were obese, morbid obese and children with metabolic syndrome (p<0.05). Cardiac myosin binding protein C levels of children with metabolic syndrome were significantly higher than of children with normal body mass index and obese children (p<0.05). There was no significant difference in high sensitivity cardiac troponin T, soluble tumor necrosis factor-like weak inducer of apoptosis, trimethylamine N-oxide and multimerin-2 between the groups (p>0.05). These results suggested that cardiac myosin binding protein C and chromogranin A molecules may involve in the pathogenesis of obesity related cardiovascular diseases.