Factors associated with obesity in Kuwaiti children.

The prevalence of adult obesity in Kuwait is among the highest in the Arab peninsula, and cardiovascular disease, for which obesity is a risk factor, is the leading cause of death. This study reports familial and environmental factors associated with childhood obesity; in addition to adverse effects of obesity on children's serum lipids, lipoproteins, apolipoproteins, insulin, and blood pressure profiles. The authors carried out a pair-matched case-control study including 460 obese (body mass index >90th percentile of the age/sex specific reference value of the National Center for Health Statistics), school children 6 to 13 years old matched by age and gender to 460 normal weight controls. We ascertained obese children in a cross-sectional survey of a representative sample of 2400 school children selected from 20 schools by multistage stratified random sampling. Biochemical variables and blood pressure were adversely affected in obese children. The conditional logistic regression analysis showed that family history of obesity, and diabetes mellitus, respiratory and bone diseases in child were significant associated factors with obesity after adjusting for social and behavioural factors. Physical activity and parental social class were not significant. We recommend early preventive measures with emphasis on families in which one or both parents are overweight.

Association of fasting insulin with serum lipids and blood pressure in Kuwaiti children.

To examine the association of hyperinsulinemia with the atherogenic risk profile in children, we studied the relationships of the fasting plasma insulin level with indices of obesity (body mass index [BMI] and sum of triceps and subscapular skinfold thickness [SFT]), body fat distribution (waist to hip ratio [WHR]), serum lipid, lipoprotein, and apolipoprotein levels, and blood pressure in a case-control study of 460 Kuwaiti prepubertal obese children aged 6 to 13 years matched by age and sex to 460 prepubertal non-obese controls. Obese children were ascertained in a representative cross-sectional study of 2,400 school children. Fasting insulin levels were positively correlated (P < .001) with serum triglyceride (TG) and very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) cholesterol levels and negatively correlated with high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels. No significant associations were observed between insulin and total cholesterol (TC), cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or apolipoprotein A-I (apo A-I). Stronger associations of insulin levels with lipoprotein fractions were observed in obese versus non-obese controls. Obese children had a higher concentration of apo B and a lower apo A-I:B ratio (P < .001). Insulin and the insulin to glucose ratio increased with age in obese children, whereas there were slight changes in non-obese children. TG and HDL cholesterol levels and systolic blood pressure (SBP) were significantly different across insulin quartiles in boys and girls. We conclude that the fasting plasma insulin level may be used as a marker for the development of obesity-associated metabolic disorders and elevated blood pressure in children.