ESPE Abstracts

Background: Obesity is one of health problems worldwide. Acanthosis nigricans has been considered as a symptom of hyperinsulinemia in children.

Objective and hypotheses: We designed this study to evaluate and compare clinical and laboratory findings in Iranian obese children with and without acanthosis nigricans.

Material: Seventy-one obese children enrolled. Fasting blood sugar, total cholesterol, triglycerides, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkalinephosphatase (ALP), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), insulin, TSH, and free thyroxine (fT4), calcium, phosphorus and 25- hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) were measured with routine techniques. Collected data compared between cases with and without acanthosis nigricans.

Results: Seventy-one children who were considered as obese were enrolled in this study. Twenty-five were female (35.2%) and 46 (64.7%). In 20 cases (28.2%) HOMA-IR was less than 2.5 and in 51(71.8%) HOMA-IR was more than 2.5. Forty-eight had acanthosis nigricans (67.6%). Mean BMI (24 in without acanthosis vs 27, P=0.002), insulin (14 vs 27, P<0.001), HOMA-IR (3.2 vs 6.2, P<0.001), TG (116 vs 156), and AST(24 vs 30, P=0.01) levels were significantly higher in cases with acanthosis nigricans.

Conclusion: Obese children with acanthosis nigricans are at risk of developing diabetes. So, identification of this symptom and precise evaluation of children with this symptom is recommended. It is better to screen obese children with acanthosis nigricans for predisposing factors of diabetes and pay attention to risk factors of this disease.

Keywords: obesity, children, acanthosis nigricans, BMI, insulin.