ESPE Abstracts

Background: Bone age (BA) tends to exceed chronological age (CA) in obese children. There are studies showing that insulin may directly influence skeletal growth. Objective: To determine whether there is an association between BA and glucose metabolism in a group of overweight and obese children.

Methods: The study included 55 obese or overweight children, mean age: 11.56±3.07 years old. Anthropometric indexes (weight, height, BMI, waist circumference, weight to height ratio), glucose metabolism (fasting insulin, fasting glucose, oral glucose tolerance test, HOMA-IR) were evaluated. Advanced BA maturation was defined as the third percentile with BA: CA > 1.2.

Results: BA was significantly advanced only in 10.90% (n=6) of the children in the studied group. All were in the prepubertal stage, with a mean age of 10.53±1.43 years and the male to female ratio was 5:1. Hyperinsulinaemia was found in 23.63% (n=13) of children but only one (7.69%) of these, had a significantly advanced BA. Children with advanced BA and hyperinsulinism or alterations of the glucose metabolism had a lower Height z-score than children with bone advancement in the lower tertiles. No correlation between BMI z-score, HOMA – IR and advanced BA was found (P≧0.05).

Conclusion: Hyperinsulinaemia and alteration of the glucose metabolism could be associated with advanced BA in obese children independent of the degree of obesity. Further studies are needed to establish other metabolic factors that are involved in modulating the skeletal growth in obese children.