Childhood obesity in Tunisia: Prevalence and risk factors.

INTRODUCTION: Obesity in children is currently a major public health problem in Tunisia. AIM: To determine the prevalence of obesity among pre-schoolchildren in the city of Bardo and to identify risk factors. METHODS: We carried a cross-sectional study of 220 children between 4 and 6 years of age, recruited from kindergartens in the city of Bardo. Children with endocrinal, tumoral or genetic diseases causing secondary obesity, children on corticosteroids and children with two illiterate parents were not included. The weight status of the children was defined according to the curves of the international obesity task force. A parent is considered obese if his BMI>30 Kg/m². RESULTS: The average age was 4.65±0.77 years. A female predominance was noted (55.9% girls and 44.1% boys). The average BMI of the children was 16.93±2.46 kg/m². The prevalence of overweight among all children was 10.9% and that of obesity was 11.4%. The frequency of overweight (including obesity) was 22.3%. In multivariate analysis, factors independently related to childhood obesity were child age, child medical history and hospitalization, parental obesity, parental dyslipidemia, snack type and snacking. CONCLUSIONS: Overweight is common in pre-school children. It should be detected at an early age, especially if risk factors are present.

Impact of sleeve gastrectomy on abnormalities in carbohydrate tolerance in obese adult.

INTRODUCTION: Facing the repeated failures of the medical management of obesity, bariatric surgery offers a promising therapeutic option in terms of achieving weight loss and metabolic benefits. AIM: To evaluate the impact of sleeve gastrectomy on the carbohydrate profile of a group of obese subjects. METHODS: It is a prospective study including 40 obese patients (7 Men and 33 Women) who underwent sleeve gastrectomy between 2016 and 2018. Clinical and biological parameters were collected before the intervention, at six months and one year after. Insulin resistance was defined by a HOMA-IR index ≥2.4. Remission of diabetes was determined using the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery's (ASMBS) criteria. RESULTS: The mean patients' age was 34.65 ± 8.17 years. The mean body mass index (BMI) was 50.23 ± 8.3 kg/m². One year after sleeve gastrectomy, the frequency of insulin resistance, decreased from 89% to 4% (p<0.05). The evolution of carbohydrate tolerance abnormalities was marked by the diabetes and prediabetes remission in 75% and 100% of cases, respectively. The mean excess weight loss was 55.8% at 12 months. CONCLUSION: These results have expanded our knowledge of the short-term sleeve gastrectomy's effectiveness on the carbohydrate profile of obese subjects. However, it would be interesting to check the durability of this metabolic benefit in the medium and long term.