The relationship between obesity and carotid extra-media thickness

The Relationship Between Obesity and Carotid Extra-Media Thickness Introduction: Mortality in adulthood, often occurs as a result of cardio-vascular diseases. Atherosclerosis, which is the most important cause of these diseases, usually begins to clinical findings in adulthood, however, pathological changes in vascular structures may start at much earlier periods. In this study the aim is to investigate whether there is a relationship between carotid extra-media thickness (cEMT) ,that shows the development of atherosclerosis in childhood and adolescent ages in early periods, and the obesity. Material and Methods: The study was done with 38 obese patients applied to children's health and diseases outpatient clinic of our hospital, who were between the ages of 7-18 years and whose body mass index (BMI) is above 95 percentile according to age and gender. Thirty healthy subjects that have no chronic disease, no drug use, and whose BMI is under 85 percentile were chosen for the control group. Results: In obese patients, 18 of them (47%) were male and 20 of them (53%) were female and the mean age was 12.1 ± 2.5 years. Compared to healthy individuals, obese individuals' BMI (18.1±2 .2 vs. 28.8±3 kg/m2, p<0.001), total cholesterol (154(57-190) vs. 166(81-230) mg/dl, p=0.046), and HDL-C (48.7(35.1-61.3) vs. 40.8(29-411) mg/dl, p<0.001), triglycerides (80 (39-183) vs. 109.5(49-311) mg/dl, p=0.006), ALT (15(8-33) vs. 23.5(6-117) IU/l, p<0.001), serum insulin (7.6(2.6-10.8) vs. 22.1(6.2-77.3) IU/l, p<0.001), and HOMA-IR (1.7(0.5-2.4) vs. 4.3(1.2-20.2), p<0.001), and cEMT (0.64±0.1 vs. 0.74±0.11 mm, p<0.001) values were significantly different. There is a significant correlation between HOMA-IR and cEMT (r=0.34, p=0.037).The only independent risk factor affecting cEMT is HOMA-IR (p = 0.015). Conclusions: Besides increasing BMI in childhood obesity, lipid profile is disrupted, insulin resistance is developing and cEMT values are increasing. These results suggest a meaningful parameter that cEMT is showing the changes that may occur in arteries associated with cardiovascular risk factors and anticipates problems that may arise in adulthood. Key Words: Obesity, cEMT, Child, Atherosclerosis, Risk Factors