New research being presented at this year's European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Malaga, Spain (11-14 May) reveals that adverse waist-to-height ratio trajectories (a marker for central obesity) during childhood may increase cardiometabolic and cardiovascular risk at 10 years old.
Notably, children with gradually increasing central obesity from birth were more likely to show early signs of metabolic and cardiovascular risk by age 10. This included elevated blood pressure and higher levels of biomarkers linked to systemic inflammation and metabolic dysfunction, such as triglycerides, insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), glycoprotein acetyls (GlycA), and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP).
"With rapidly rising rates of childhood obesity worldwide, it is important to understand how central obesity during childhood is already linked to early signs of metabolic deterioration, including elevated blood pressure and circulating biomarkers associated with future cardiometabolic disease," said lead author Dr David Horner from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.
Obesity in childhood and adolescence has been associated with cardiovascular, metabolic, neurological, musculoskeletal diseases and premature death in adulthood. Early detection of overweight and obesity in children is critical to enable interventions that may prevent long-term health consequences.
The build-up of belly fat deep within the abdomen is known to be a greater risk factor for cardiovascular and metabolic disease than body mass index (BMI) alone. Waist-to-height ratio (dividing waist circumference by height) is an indicator of central obesity and a key predictor of cardiometabolic health.
To explore how adverse waist-to-height ratio trajectories during childhood can help predict cardiometabolic and cardiovascular risk by age 10, researchers analysed data from 700 children enrolled in the Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood (COPSAC2010)—a longitudinal population-based mother-child cohort study.
The children were followed at 14 regular clinical visits from 1 week of life until the age of 10 years. Children's cardiometabolic risk was derived from composite scores (adjusted for age and sex) of HDL cholesterol (so-called "good cholesterol"), triglycerides (blood fats), glucose, blood pressure (height-adjusted), and HOMA-IR (insulin resistance).
