| Background: Obesity has become a disease of great importance affecting
children and adolescents. Obesity can cause atopy or inflammation, where
there are some common factors that predispose to both obesity and atopy.
Objective: To study the factors contributing to allergic disorders in obese
children, the role of leptin in obesity related atopic disorders and the
relation of birth weight and breast feeding to both obesity and atopy.
Methods: Forty seven obese children and adolescents and 45 healthy
children (control group) were included in the study. The obese children were
divided into 2 groups (based on the history of nasal allergy, bronchial
asthma, skin, eye or food allergy), group I (n=21) atopic and group II
(n=26) non atopic. All obese children were subjected to complete blood
count, serum triglycerides and cholesterol, serum leptin (for control group
also) and serum total immunoglobulin E (IgE) measurement.
Results: Body mass index (BMI) was significantly higher in group I than
group II (33.35±9.93 vs. 23.70±9.7IU/L, p=0.000), also serum total IgE was
significantly higher in group I than in group II (510.476±366.407 IU/L vs.
114.577±120.940 IU/L, p=0.000). Group II showed higher serum leptin
level than group I (185.115±105.912 vs. 133.048±100.718 ng/ml), a
difference not statistically significant (p = 0.092), yet, both were higher than
the control group (7.24±5.98 ng/ml). Significant positive correlation was
found between serum leptin level and age (p=0.000, r = 0.60) and BMI (p=
0.000, r = 0.720), while negative correlation was found between serum
leptin and IgE (r= 0.289, P=0.049). Significant positive correlation was
found between obesity (BMI) and family history of obesity (r = 4.672, p =
0.036).
Conclusion: There is a strong positive association between obesity and
atopy: Serum leptin was higher in obese children when compared to control
group more in non atopic than atopic group yet not statistically significant.
Family history of obesity is an important predisposing factor for obesity in
children. The frequency of atopy was higher in artificial than in breast fed
obese children. Therefore efforts should focus on weight reduction as a part
of treatment of asthma in obese children, also serum leptin assay is
important in all obese children and further studies are needed to know more
details about leptin hormone and its relation to both atopy and obesity. |