Predictor of Fatty Liver in Obese Children

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The childhood obesity is currently increasing. The childhood obesity is difficult to treat and the response of treatment is transitory because it is caused by the hyperplasia of fat cells. The complications of obesity are hyperlipidemia, hypertension, diabetes, artherosclerotic coronary arterial disease and fatty liver. Therefore the early diagnosis and prevention of obesity from childhood is very important. This study was performed to identify the relation between various weight-height indices and serum lipid levels and to seek for the parameters predicting the presence of fatty liver in obese children. METHODS: Between January 1994 to August 1995, 145 children were diagnosed as obesity by height-weight indices or fat % calculated from skin fold thickness among 672 children who were take an health care services at Ewha Womans University Hospital. Thirteen children of them were complicated with fatty liver. Serum lipid levels and abdominal ultrasonography were performed in 145 obese children. RESULTS: Most obese children were 9-13 years of age. The obese children with fatty liver(85.0%) have larger proportion of moderate to severe obesity than those without fatty liver(30.3%). The analysis of height-weight indicies(obesity index, Rohrer index, body mass index) and serum lipid levels revealed that total cholesterol level highly related to RI(r=0.937) and BMI(r=0.805). There are statistically significant differences in height-weight indices between obese children with fatty liver and without fatty liver (p<0.05). There are statistically significant differences in triglyceride level and HDL cholesterol(p<0.05), not in total cholesterol and LDH cholesterol between both groups. The grade of fatty liver is significantly related to serum triglyceride level(r=0.45, p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of fatty liver was significantly associated with the degree of obesity and serum triglyceride level. Therefore, the serum triglyceride level is a good parameter to predict fatty liver in moderate to severe obese children.