Obese related effects of inflammatory markers and insulin resistance on increased carotid intima-media thickness in pre-pubertal children

摘要

I read with interest the article by Giannini et al. who measured carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) and the relationship between IMT, insulin resistance and oxidant status in obese pre-pubertal children. The authors wrote that as a control group they recruited 41 children with a body mass index (BMI) between -2 and +2 S.D., who were admitted to the Department of Pediatrics of the University of Chieti for minor diseases.There is widespread agreement that for adults a body mass index of 25 kg/m~2 constitutes overweight and 30 kg/m~2 obesity, but there are no agreed definitions for children. The following conventional cut-off points are applied: body mass index standard deviation score greater than 1.04 (85th centile) for overweight and greater than 1.64 (95th centile) for obesity. Therefore, the BMI centiles of the controls overlap with those of overweight and obese children in this study.