Assessment of epicardial adipose tissue in young obese children

Figures & data

Figure 1. Flowchart participants.

Table 1. Baseline characteristics of children aged 3–8 year with normal weight, overweight and obesity.

	Normal weight (n = 15) Median [IQR]	Overweight (n = 8) Median [IQR]	Obesity (n = 25) Median [IQR]	p-value
Male (n, %) Age (y)	9 (60%) 4.3 [4.2–5.3]	2 (25%) 4.3 [4.2–4.8]	6 (24%) 6.4 [4.9–7.3]	0.056 0.037
Height (cm)	109.6 [99.0–119.3]	111.4 [107.7–118.0]	126.7 [110.9–131.0]	0.011
Weight (kg)	17.1 [15.1–23.2]	22.6 [21.4–26.8]	35.9 [29.9–40.1]	<0.001
BMI (kg/m^2)	15.8 [14.8–16.4]	18.9 [17.9–19.2]	23.2 [21.8–25.4]	<0.001
BMI z-score	0.24 [−0.77–0.92]	2.24 [1.74–2.37]	3.76 [3.25–4.25]	<0.001
EATT (mm)	0.87 [0.53–1.00]	1.38 [0.68–1.93]	1.57 [1.20–2.27]	0.002
Total cholesterol (mmol/l)		4.00 [3.55–4.55]	4.10 [3.55–4.90]	0.802^#
HDL cholesterol (mmol/l)		1.51 [1.16–1.94]	1.16 [0.97–1.29]	0.055^#
LDL-cholesterol (mmol/l)		2.10 [1.92–2.52]	2.51 [2.09–3.16]	0.254^#
Triglycerides (mmol/l)		0.55 [0.45–0.95]	0.97 [0.64–1.30]	0.095^#
CRP ((mg/l)		0.56 [0.30–2.78]	1.79 [0.56–2.81]	0.308^#
Glucose (mmol/l)		4.9 [4.3–5.4]	5.1 [4.8–5.2]	0.595^#
Insulin (mU/l)		2.0 [2.0–2.5]	3.5 [2.00–8.00]	0.075^#
HOMA-IR		0.44 [0.38–0.60]	0.75 [0.45–1.81]	0.043^#
Adiponectin (mg/ml)		0.23 [0.12–0.29]^a	0 [0–0.27]	0.326^#
Systolic blood pressure (mmHg)		101 [94–112]	110 [102–118]	0.094^#
Diastolic blood pressure (mmHg)		53 [50–63]	59 [55–65]	0.154^#

^a n = 5.

^# between overweight and obese children.

Table 2. Results of single and multiple regression analysis of EATT on age, sex and BMI z-score in participating normal weight, overweight and obese children (n = 48).

	Unadjusted		Adjusted*
	Regression coefficient	95% CI	Regression coefficient	95% CI
Age (yr)	0.116	−0.043–0.274	0.066	−0.077–0.208
Sex (girls vs boys)	0.537	0.082–0.993	0.439	0.021–0.856
BMI z-score	0.202	0.090–0.314	0.172	0.059–0.285

*Based on a model with age, sex and BMI z-score independent variables.

Table 3. Correlation between EATT and cardiovascular risk factors in 31 children age 3–8 yr with overweight (n = 6) or obesity (n = 25).

	EATT
	Spearman’s rho	p-value
BMI z-score	0.04	0.82
Age	0,09	0,63
Systolic blood pressure (mmHg)	0.17	0.36
Diastolic blood pressure (mmHg)	0.26	0.16
HOMA IR^a	0.17	0.38
Total cholesterol^b	0.07	0.71
HDL cholesterol^b	−0.35	0.06
LDL cholesterol^b	0.16	0.40
Triglycerides^c	0.13	0.50
Adiponectin^a	−0.44	0.016
hsCRP^c	−0.19	0.36

BMI Body mass index; EATT epicardial adipose tissue thickness.

^an = 29.

^bn = 30.

^cn = 25.

Table 4. Longitudinal data of obese young children participating in AanTafel! (n = 17).

	t = 0, mean (sd)	t = 4m, mean (sd)	t = 12m, mean (sd)	t = 0 to t = 4m p-value	t = 4m to t = 12m p-value	t = 0 to t = 12m p-value
BMI z-score	3.43 (0.91)	3.16 (0.81)	3.01 (0.76)	0.019	0.28	0.006
EATT (mm)	1.47 (0.75)	1.24 (0.49)	1.56 (0.64)	0.21	0.06	0.62
Systolic blood mmHg	91(9,4)	92 (7,1)^a	92 (7,5)	0.38	0.23	0.78
Diastolic blood mmHg	46 (6,7))	41,5 (9,7)^a	45 (6,3)	0.66	0.005	0.015
HOMA IR^a	0.83 (0.67)^a	0.68 (0.52)^a	0.94 (0.45)^a	0.41	0.16	0.57
Total cholesterol (mmol/l)^a	4.04 (0.69)^a	3.99 (0.84)^a	4.13 (0.90)^a	0.69	0.42	0.39
HDL cholesterol (mmol/l)^a	1.24 (0.22)^a	1.28 (0.27)^a	1.42 (0.31)^a	0.61	0.025	0.026
LDL cholesterol (mmol/l)^a	2.43 (0.57)^a	2.41 (0.81)^a	2.41 (0.72)^a	0.82	0.54	0.65
Triglycerides (mmol/l)^a	0.81 (0.30)^a	0.66 (0.19)^a	0.69 (0.27)^a	0.08	0.33	0.19
Adiponectin (mg/ml)	0.17 (0.14)	0.17 (0.14)	0.16 (0.14)	0.35	0.38	0.73

^an = 16.

^bn = 17.

# median and inter quartile range.