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Little-Known Liver Disease in Obese Kids May Raise Heart
Disease Risk
UC
San
Diego
Researchers Caution Physicians and
Parents
Overweight
and obese children who have non-alcoholic fatty liver
disease (NAFLD) are at much higher risk for heart disease
according to a study led by researchers
at University
of
California
, San
Diego School of Medicine (UCSD), Department of
Pediatrics. The
study results, posted online today, will be published in the
July 2008 edition of Circulation: Journal of the American
Heart Association.
“Our
results demonstrate that obese children and adolescents with
a definitive diagnosis of NAFLD have a more severe
cardiovascular risk profile than their age, sex and
BMI-matched peers,” said lead author Jeffrey Schwimmer,
M.D., associate professor of pediatrics at the UCSD School
of Medicine and Director, Fatty Liver Clinic, Rady
Children’s Hospital San Diego.
Researchers studied
150 overweight children between the ages of 5 and 17, with
and without NAFLD. The cases were well
matched in age, sex and severity of obesity, with an equal
number of boys and girls in each group. Results showed that
children with NAFLD had significant cardiovascular risk,
including higher levels of fasting glucose, insulin, total
cholesterol, LDL (“bad” cholesterol), triglycerides and
higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure than the
control group.
The children with NAFLD also had significantly lower levels
of HDL (“good” cholesterol) than the control
group.
Researchers found the
distribution of the disease by race and ethnicity also
varied significantly, with more Hispanic and Asian children
in the fatty liver group and more white and black children
in the control group. In addition, children with
metabolic syndrome were five times more likely to have NAFLD
as overweight and obese children without metabolic
syndrome.
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