Alterations of carbohydrate and lipoprotein metabolism in childhood obesity--impact of insulin resistance and acanthosis nigricans

Aim: To study the prevalence of alterations of glucose and lipoprotein metabolism and the impact of acanthosis nigricans (AN) in childhood obesity. Patients and Methods: 113 obese children, 57 with simple obesity (SO) and 58 with obesity and AN (OAN). Oral glucose tolerance test was performed, serum glucose, insulin and lipoprotein parameters were determined, and insulin resistance/sensitivity indices were calculated. Results: Insulin resistance, basal and reactive hyperinsulinemia, impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and dyslipidemia were found to be frequent conditions in children with OS as well as OAN. Reactive insulinemia was more pronounced in OAN than in SO, and insulin resistance was more frequent when AN was more prominent. Triglycerides were higher and HDL-C was lower, and atherogenic dyslipidemia was more frequent in OAN compared to SO. Conclusion: Children with obesity form a risk population. AN is a factor which can be used in metabolic risk factor clustering estimation in childhood obesity.