ESPE Abstracts

Background and aims: The development of insulin resistance (IR) may be influenced by inflammation in overweight/obese individuals. To identify indicators of IR, new markers of inflammation and systemic inflammation such as leukocyte (WBC) and platelet counts (PLT), the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) have been suggested. This study aims to investigate the association between these markers and IR in a group of overweight and obese.

Materials and methods: A total of 247 overweight/obese school-children were studied (119 males and 128 females; 109 pre-pubertal and 138 pubertal). Anthropometric, hematological and biochemical measurements were collected. HOMA-IR values were calculated as insulin resistance index. According to HOMA-IR values, the study population was divided into tertiles (1st tertile: < 2.58; 2nd tertile: between 2.58 and 4.08; 3rd tertile: >4.08) and differences across tertiles in terms of blood count values were investigated. In addition, a Spearman test was performed to evaluate a correlation between blood counts and insulin resistance indexes.

Results: The three tertile groups were similar in terms of age (10.8, 11.3 and 11.8, years respectively), and gender (M/F, 40/43, 40/42 and 39/43 respectively). As expected, Weight-SDS, BMI-SDS, fasting glucose and insulin values, and HOMA-IR increased across the three tertile groups, showing higher values in the third tertile. Interestingly, WBC, PLT and NLR significantly and progressively increased across the three tertile groups, showing higher values in the third tertile. The Spearman analysis in the entire study population showed a significant correlation between both WBC and PLT with fasting insulin and HOMA-IR values.

Conclusion: White blood cell values, PLT and NLR increased progressively across insulin resistance tercile in overweight/obese children. Therefore, these markers may serve as indicators of the presence of IR in these subjects and should be taken into account when predicting potential complications such as type II diabetes mellitus.