Aterosclerose subclínica e marcadores inflamatórios em crianças e adolescentes obesos e não obesos Atherosclerosis subclinical and inflammatory markers in obese and nonobese Children and adolescents

Abstract We conducted a systematic review of intima-media thickness(IMT) and in-flammatory markers, compared IMT and identified by meta-analysis related to EMI and inflammatory variables in obese and non-obese children and adolescents. We searched for articles in databases Pubmed, Bireme and Science Direct, during years 2000 to 2010, with the following key words in English: “obesity”, “adolescents”, “athe-rosclerosis” and “child “, They were used in two combinations: obesity + adolescents + atherosclerosis + child + obesity and athe-rosclerosis. We used meta-analysis to com -pare IMT between obese and non-obese patients. We carefully selected 16 articles for final analysis. There were differences in the thickness of IMT between obese and non-obese patients in 12 studies, confir-med by meta-analysis. Obese patients had concentrations of C-reactive protein higher in 13 articles analyzed (p < 0.05) and lower adiponectin levels in 4 (p < 0.05). In gene-ral, obese men had lower concentrations of adiponectin and higher values of IMT and C-reactive protein than non-obese men, showing the relationship between obesity and early inflammatory process. We concluded that there is a relationship of obesity with increased IMT and changes in concentrations of inflammatory markers in this phase.