Could mean platelet volume among complete blood count parameters be a surrogate marker of metabolic syndrome in pre-pubertal children?

Interest in childhood metabolic syndrome (MetS) has increased substantially due to the increasing prevalence of childhood obesity on a global scale. Early recognition of MetS is critical in order to delay the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD). In this study, we evaluated the relationship between complete blood count (CBC) parameters and MetS among pre-pubertal children which may provide evidence in support of using low cost, readily available clinical haematological parameters for the detection of MetS. A retrospective analysis was carried out on 330 (125 lean vs. 205 overweight) Turkish pre-pubertal children who attend to a paediatric outpatient clinic. Age, gender, puberty, body mass index, CBC parameters, cardiometabolic risk factors including lipid profiles, high sensitive serum reactive protein (hsCRP) and insulin resistance index calculated by homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR) were evaluated and compared among lean, overweight children and children with MetS. The mean age of the study population was 7.4 ± 1.9 years. In both gender, the mean values of mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH) and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) were significantly lower and red blood cell (RBC), platelet (PLT) counts were significantly higher in overweight children. Overall, 8.4% (n = 28) of patients met the criteria of MetS. Children with MetS had higher levels of PLT and lower levels of mean platelet volume (MPV). Of all the haematological parameters analysed, PLT was positively, whereas MPV was negatively correlated with MetS in girls. In addition, MPV was inversely correlated with fasting blood glucose, HOMA-IR, low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol/high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C/HDL-C) ratio in girls after adjusting for confounding factors. The risk analyses of MetS in terms of MPV quartiles showed that the adjusted OR (95% CI) for the lowest vs. the highest quartile was 7.71 (1.45-40.89) in girls. These data might suggest that MPV could be another feature of MetS in pre-pubertal girls and might be used as a surrogate marker for MetS in clinical settings.

The association of vitamin D status with cardiometabolic risk factors, obesity and puberty in children.

UNLABELLED: Low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25(OH)D) levels have been associated with insulin resistance and cardiovascular diseases. The influences of gender, puberty and adiposity on vitamin D status and the relationship between 25(OH)D and cardiometabolic risk factors in obese and non-obese children were studied. A retrospective analysis was carried out on 168 Turkish children during late winter. Age, gender, puberty, body mass index (BMI), 25(OH)D levels and cardiometabolic risk factors including lipid profiles, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and insulin resistance index calculated by homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR) were evaluated. The median age of the study population was 11 (4-16) years, and 102 children (60.7 %) were prepubertal. Overall, 98.2 % of patients had 25(OH)D levels lower than 20 ng/mL (median 10.0 (4.0-21.3) ng/mL). The 25(OH)D levels did not correlate with BMI. However, an inverse correlation was seen between serum 25(OH)D and HOMA-IR (rho = -0.656, p = 0.006) and insulin (rho = -0.715, p = 0.002) in pubertal obese subjects. Female gender and puberty were all negatively associated with 25(OH)D. CONCLUSION: The association between vitamin D status and BMI is complex, and it does not seem to be altered by mild obesity. In addition, potential influence of puberty should be kept in mind while assessing the relationship between serum 25(OH)D and cardiometabolic risk factors.

Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) level in nutritionally obese children and metabolic co-morbidity.

OBJECTIVE: In recent years, there has been increasing focus on thyroid function in pediatric obese patients. Our aims were to investigate whether there is an association between serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) within the normal range and body mass index (BMI), and to determine if TSH levels correlate with metabolic risk factors in children. METHODS: A retrospective cross-sectional analysis was carried out on 528 euthyroid, age- and sex-matched lean, overweight, or obese children. Anthropometric indices, blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, hepatic enzymes, lipid profiles, TSH, free triiodothyronine (fT3), and free thyroxine (fT4) were assessed from medical records and compared among groups. Subjects with known presence of diabetes, using medications altering blood pressure and glucose or lipid metabolism, with TSH levels >97.5 or <2.5 percentile, or with autoimmune thyroid disease were excluded. RESULTS: Hypertension, dyslipidemia, and elevated levels of hepatic enzymes were found to be more common in overweight and obese children (p<0.001), and those metabolic changes were significantly correlated with the increase in BMI (p<0.05). Serum concentrations of TSH and fT3 within the normal range were higher in overweight and obese children (p<0.01), and TSH was positively correlated with total cholesterol, triglycerides, and systolic blood pressure (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that obese children have higher serum TSH and fT3 levels even within the normal range, and that an increase in TSH is associated with dyslipidemia and higher systolic blood pressure. It remains to be seen whether TSH might serve as a potential marker of metabolic risk factors in obese pediatric patients.

Persistence of protection of hepatitis B vaccine and response to booster immunization in 2- to 12-year-old children.

UNLABELLED: Neonatal vaccination against hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection was launched in 1998 in Turkey. The aim was to evaluate the persistence of seroprotection after HBV vaccination in order to determine the necessity of a single booster dose in 2- to 12-year-old children. This study was conducted retrospectively using hospital records of the children aged 2-12 years old who attended the pediatric outpatient clinics of Diskapi Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey between January 2010 and June 2011. Children who had received three doses of HBV vaccination in their infancy were included. A total of 530 children enrolled into the study, and 352 (66.4 %) of them had protective antibody to hepatitis surface antigens (anti-HBs) titer greater than 10 mIU/ml. The proportions of children with low, intermediate, and high anti-HB titers are different for those under 3 years of age. The majority were in the intermediate category. Those aged 4-10 years and 11 or older represented two-thirds of the children with high titers (p = 0.000). None of the children had chronic HBV infection. Unprotected children responded well after receiving the booster dose. The mean anti-HB concentration after the booster dose was more than 200 times higher than the mean antibody concentration before (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that HBV vaccination may confer long-term immunity. Use of routine booster doses of vaccine at these ages does not appear necessary to maintain long-term protection in successfully vaccinated immunocompetent children in the region.