Assessment of Chemerin and Apelin levels as potential predictors for Vascular Endothelial Function in Obese Children

Abstract

Obesity in children and adolescents is a growing public and health concern and has been increasing steadily worldwide, with an increase in associated morbidities such as diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, etc. . Among the most serious health problems are cardiovascular diseases, which results in lower life expectancy. The dysfunction of vascular endothelial cells is one of the most serious cardiovascular complications associated with obesity as it leads to atherosclerosis and concomitant increase in morbidity and mortality. One of the mechanisms that link obesity and it’s associated morbidities is the release of the so-called adipokines from adipose tissue. Of the adipokines that researches have shown that they may be responsible for these morbidities associated with obesity are Chemerin and Apelin with some studies showing a relationship between them and endothelial dysfunction . The present study was a cross-sectional study conducted at DEMPU, Pediatric Hospital, Cairo University and Obesity Clinic in Medical and Scientific Centre of Excellence, National Research Center on 45 obese subjects (BMI ≥ 95th percentile for age and sex) with a mean age 9.44 ± 1.61 years and 45 non obese age and sex matched children taken as control with a mean age 9.02 ± 1.66 years. The aim of our study was to assess the serum level of Chemerin and Apelin in a sample of obese Egyptian children and to assess their relationship with the parameters of inflammation and activity of endothelial cells in an attempt to predict the risk of cardiovascular diseases in these children. A detailed history was taken for all the children included in the study with physical examination, anthropometric measurements and laboratory tests