No abstract

Obesity is an independent risk factor for developing cardiovascular disease and increases insulin resistance in children. Interleukin (IL)-18 is a novel pro-inflammatory cytokine with potential atherogenetic properties. This study aimed to identify circulating levels of IL-18 in obese children and examine the effects of combined nutritional education-physical activity course on circulating IL-18. Plasma IL-18, body mass index (BMI), fasting glucose and insulin, homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance (HOMA IR), lipid profile, uric acid, highsensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and homocysteine were determined in 70 obese children aged 10-12 years before and after attending a 13-week weight reduction program, which included physical activities and nutritional education. Twenty-five age-matched non-obese children served as controls. At baseline, obese children had significantly higher levels of BMI, fasting insulin, HOMA IR, triglyceride (TG), uric acid, hs-CRP, and IL-18 but lower high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) than non-obese children. Plasma IL-18 levels in obese children decreased significantly after the weight reduction program. At baseline, plasma IL-18 levels in obese children positively correlated with BMI, HOMA IR, insulin and TG but negatively correlated with HDL-C. There was a significant relationship between plasma IL-18 and BMI changes. Moreover, fasting insulin was responsible for IL-18 variability in obese children. These findings suggest that elevated plasma IL-18 levels in obese children are partly associated with parameters of obesity and insulin resistance, and are significantly affected by modest weight loss.

Inflammation and insulin resistance are linked in obesity, and this association may also exist in childhood obesity. The objective of this study was to identify the relationship between circulating levels of selected adipokines and insulin resistance in obese children. Adiponectin, resistin, interleukin 18 (IL‐18), monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP‐1), high‐sensitive C‐reactive protein (hsCRP) along with body mass index (BMI), fasting glucose and insulin, homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance (HOMA IR) were determined in a total of 50 Chinese obese children. 30 age‐matched lean children served as controls. All obese children were further classified into subgroups based on tertiles of BMI and HOMA IR. Obese children had significantly higher BMI, fasting insulin, HOMA IR, IL‐18, hsCRP and lower adiponectin than lean children. There were no significant differences in plasma levels of resistin and MCP‐1 between obese and lean children, but obese children with HOMA IR in the top tertile had significantly higher BMI, MCP‐1, and resistin than obese children with HOMA IR in the bottom tertile. Degree of obesity in obesity children was significantly associated with insulin resistance. In addition, both resistin and MCP‐1 in obese children were positively correlated with BMI and HOMA IR. Our findings suggest the elevation of selected adipokines in obese children corresponds with the degree of obesity based on BMI and this phenomenon is associated with insulin resistance.