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Article Type

Original Study

Abstract

Objective The aim of this study was to assess vitamin D status in obese school-aged children and to correlate vitamin D levels with other clinical and laboratory investigations. Background Obesity and vitamin D deficiency have been classified as epidemics throughout the world; many studies have shown that vitamin D status and fat mass are inversely correlated. Patient and methods This study was carried out on 80 children ranging in age from 6 to 18 years divided according to BMI into two groups: an obese group [40 children (12 boys and 28 girls)] and a control group [40 apparently healthy children (17 boys and 23 girls)]. All children were subjected to a full assessment of history, clinical examination, and laboratory investigations including complete blood picture, qualitative C-reactive protein (CRP), fasting lipid profile (serum cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein), serum calcium (total), phosphorus, alkaline phosphatase, and serum 25(OH)-vitamin D. Results Our results showed that obese children had significantly higher values than the controls on all anthropometric measurements except the upper/lower segment ratio; they had significantly higher blood pressure, lower levels of hemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, and higher levels of all parameters of the lipid profile except high-density lipoprotein, which was lower. Positive CRP was detected in 80% of the children in the obese group, with 100% negative CRP in the control group. They had significantly lower 25(OH)-vitamin D than the controls; vitamin D deficiency was detected in 52.5% of obese children, and 47.5% of these children had vitamin D insufficiency. However, 52.5% of the controls had 25(OH)-vitamin D insufficiency. A significantly positive correlation was detected between triceps skinfold thickness and fasting serum cholesterol in the obese group. Conclusion Obese children are prone to hypertension, dyslipidemia, microcytic hypochromic anemia, inflammatory process, and vitamin D deficiency; apparently healthy children may have undiagnosed vitamin D insufficiency.

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