The Characteristics of the Cardiac Structure and Function of Obese Children / 中国运动医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To observe the cardiac structure and function of obese children,so as to evaluate the risk of early pathological changes and severe consequences.Methods One thousand and thirty-four children (aged between 8 and 9,of 520 females) from 5 primary schools in Beijing were recruited and randomly divided into 2 normal groups (206 males and 336 females),2 overweight groups (94 males and 80 females) and 2 obesity groups (214 males and 104 females) according to the sex and body fat percentage (BF％.The cardiac structure and function were measured using echocardiography.Results (1) Compared with the normal groups,significant increase was observed in the left ventricular internal diameter at end-diastole (LVIDd),left ventricular posterior wall dimensions (LVPWd),left ventricular end-diastolic volume (EDV),left ventricular mass (LVM),left ventricular mass index (LVMI),stroke volume (SV) and cardiac output (CO) in the obesity groups (P＜0.01).However,no significant differences were observed between the 2 groups in the ejection fraction (EF) and fractional shortening (FS) (P＞0.05).(2) BF％ was positively correlated with the aortic root dimension,IVSd,LVIDd,LVPWd,EDV,LVM,LVMI,CO and SV (P＜0.01).(3) The prevalence of concentric hypertrophy was 6.1％ among the overweight and obese children aged between 8 and 9.Compared with the normal children,significant increase was found in their BF,BF％,body mass index,LVM,LVMI and RWT,but significant decrease in SV (P＜0.05).Conclusions Screening with BF％,the overweight and obese children between 8 and 9 years old have showed obvious changes in their cardiac structure and function,including higher left ventricular internal diameter at end-diastole,thicker left ventricular wall as well as bigger left ventricular end-diastolic volume,left ventricular mass,left ventricular mass index,stroke volume and cardiac output.Meanwhile,the prevalence of concentric hypertrophy increased with the increase of body fat percentage.