ESPE2019 Poster Category 3 Fat, Metabolism and Obesity (35 abstracts)
1University of Pavia and IRCCS Policlinico S. Matteo, Pavia, Italy. 2IRCCS Policlinico S. Matteo, Pavia, Italy. 3University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy. 4University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
Objective: Allostatic load (AL) refers to the physiological response that occurs in chronic stress burden, Excessive weight gain is an important source of physiological stress promoting chronic low-inflammation state detrimental for health. We estimated AL score among a pediatric population, in order to define a correlation between cumulative biological dysregulation and excess weight.
Methods: We enrolled 164 children and adolescents (11.89 ± 3.89). According to body mass index (BMI) threshold, the subjects were classified as normal weight BMI<75th percentile; overweight BMI 75-95th percentile; obese BMI>95th percentile. Data based on 16 biomarkers were used to create the AL score. A dichotomous outcome of high AL, was defined for those who had >4 dysregulated components.
Results: High AL was noted in 88/164 subjects (53.65%), without significant difference in sex distribution (P =0.07) and pubertal status (P=0.10).
The subjects with high AL had a significantly higher BMI (P<0.001), WC and WC/HtR (P<0.001), triglycerides (P=0.002), fasting blood glucose (P=0.03), insulin resistance (P<0.001), systolic (P<0.001) and diastolic blood pressure (P=0.001), GGT (P=0.01), PCR (P=0.01) and calprotectin (P<0.01) as well as lower HDL cholesterol (P=0.002) than subjects with low AL.
A significant correlation between high AL and overweight/obesity was reported (P<0.001). The rate of the cumulative biological dysregulation increased progressively with the increase in BMI categories (P< 0.001).
Conclusions: high AL was associated with excess weight. AL may be considered a significant contributor correlated to increased morbidity in children with overweight/obesity.