ESPE Abstracts

Background: Obesity in childhood and adolescence represents one of the most challenging public health problems of the 21st century owing to its epidemic proportions worldwide.

Aim: The aim of our study was to determine the concentrations of apelin-12, vaspin and resistin in children and adolescents with overweight and obesity before and 1 year after the implementation of a lifestyle intervention program of diet, sleep and exercise.

Methods: The study sample consisted of 105 subjects (52.4% males, 48.6% females; 44.8% prepubertal, 55.2% pubertal). Subjects were classified as having obesity (67.6%) and overweight (32.4%) according to International Obesity Task Force cut-off points and were enrolled in a personalized, lifestyle intervention program. Body composition and biochemical and endocrinologic parameters were determined at the beginning and at the end of the study. The study was approved by the Committee on the Ethics of Human Research, and written informed consent was obtained by all parents.

Results: Following one year of the intervention program, there was a significant decrease in BMI (P <0.01), waist circumference (P <0.01), Waist-to-Hip Ratio (WHR) (P <0.01), Waist-to-Height Ratio (WHtR) (P <0.01), total cholesterol (P <0.01), LDL (P <0.01), triglycerides (P <0.05), fat mass (P <0.01), osteopontin (P <0.01), apelin-12 (P <0.01) and resistin (P <0.01), and an increase in HDL (P <0.01), vaspin (P <0.01), muscle mass (P <0.01) and free-fat mass (P <0.01). Apelin-12 correlated positively with glucose (b=0.43 P <0.05), calcium (b=0.33, P <0.05) and osteopontin (b=0.40, P <0.05). In addition, glucose was the best positive predictor of apelin-12 (b=0.236, P <0.05) and osteopontin was the best negative predictor of the change of apelin-12 (b=-0.299, P <0.05). Vaspin correlated negatively with free-fat mass and positively with WHR (b=0.54, P <0.05), fat mass (b=0.37, P <0.05), adiponectin (b=0.29, P <0.05) and glucose (b=0.55, P <0.05). Interestingly, Vitamin D (b=0.621, P <0.05) was the best positive predictor of vaspin. Tri-ponderal mass index (b=2.132, P <0.05) was found to be the best positive predictor, and BMI z-score (b=-0.794, P <0.05), HDL (b=-0.284, P <0.05), HbA1c (b=-0.262, P <0.05) and glucose (b=-0.281, P <0.05) were the best negative predictors of the change of vaspin. Resistin correlated negatively with BMI z-score (b=-0.89, P <0.05), hip circumference (b=-0.88, P <0.05), WHtR (b=-0.89, P <0.05), and Vitamin D (b=-0.34, P <0.05), while BMI z-score was the best positive predictor of resistin concentrations ((b=0.437, P <0.05). Additionally, the change of resistin correlated positively with glucose (b=0.31, P <0.05) and HbA1c (b=0.91, P <0.05).

Conclusion: These findings indicate an association of apelin-12, vaspin and resistin with obesity, glucose and bone metabolism, as well as their potential role as biomarkers of obesity and its trajectory.