Metabolically Healthy Obesity in Pediatric Population

Plain-language summary

The global epidemic of childhood obesity, with the accompanying rise in the prevalence of endocrine, metabolic, and cardiovascular comorbidities in youth, represents one of the most important public health issues of the modern world. Nevertheless, a distinct subgroup of youth with obesity less prone to the development of metabolic disturbances, called "metabolically healthy obese" (MHO), has come into focus. Defining the MHO subpopulation within the youth with obesity is of high importance in order to elucidate the mechanisms protecting against the clustering of cardiometabolic risk factors, and for its clinical, preventive, and therapeutic decision-making implications. Little is known about the mechanisms of development of metabolic disturbance in pediatric obesity. Cardiac autonomic function, which can be measured non-invasively with heart rate variability (HRV), has been suggested as a potential mechanism underlying the development of metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease. The aims of the present study were to investigate clinical, anthropometric, and socio-demographic and lifestyle predictors of MHO in this group and to asses correlation between HRV and the metabolic syndrome progression or improvement , in order to reveal if HRV can serve as a predictor to metabolic disturbance in pediatric obesity population Materials and Methods The study will be performed in the Nutrition and Obesity Clinic of the Pediatric Gastroenterology Unit at "Dana Dwek" Children's Hospital. All children and adolescents that that will be admitted to our clinic between January 2021 to December 2022 will include in the study. sociodemographic parameters will be collected from the medical files.Blood will be drawn for complete metabolic assesment. MUO children will be defined according to the recent international definition. Resting HRV will be measured by Pulse Oximeter (BM2000A/Shanghai Berry Electronic Tech Co., Ltd.). The measurement will be performed twice - at two consecutive visits at the clinic, as part as the routine follow up of the patient every 3 months.

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