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Pediatrics

Link between chemerin, central obesity, and parameters of the Metabolic Syndrome: findings from a longitudinal study in obese children participating in a lifestyle intervention

International Journal of Obesity volume 42, pages 1743–1752 (2018)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective

Chemerin has been suggested as a potential link between obesity and associated comorbidities in humans. Therefore, we studied the relationships between chemerin, parameters of fat mass, and Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) in obese children before and after weight reduction.

Methods

We determined chemerin, bioactive leptin (bioLep), BMI-SDS, waist circumference (WC), body fat based on skinfold measurements and bioimpedance analyses, lipids, transaminases, insulin resistance index HOMA, and blood pressure in 88 obese children participating in a lifestyle intervention at baseline and 1 year later. Furthermore, we determined chemerin concentrations in 23 normal-weight children.

Results

Obese children demonstrated significantly (p < 0.001) higher chemerin concentrations compared to normal-weight children (96.2 ± 23.0 versus 63.1 ± 12.4 ng/ml). The chemerin concentrations were not related to age or gender. Prepubertal children had higher (p = 0.024) chemerin concentrations than pubertal children (71.0 ± 13.4 versus 58.0 ± 8.9 ng/ml). Weight loss was associated with a decrease of chemerin (−14.0 ± 22.0 ng/ml; p < 0.001) and an improvement of all parameters of the MetS. Chemerin was significantly related to BMI-SDS, WC, and bioLep in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. Chemerin and its changes were significantly related to insulin, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides and their changes in multiple linear regression analyses adjusted to age, gender, pubertal stage, leptin and BMI.

Conclusions

Since chemerin was related to parameters of central fat mass and MetS both in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses these findings suggest an impact of chemerin on factors of the MetS in obese children.

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  1. Vestische Hospital for Children and Adolescents Datteln, University of Witten/Herdecke, Datteln, Germany

    Petra Niklowitz, Juliane Rothermel, Nina Lass, Andre Barth & Thomas Reinehr

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  1. Petra Niklowitz
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Niklowitz, P., Rothermel, J., Lass, N. et al. Link between chemerin, central obesity, and parameters of the Metabolic Syndrome: findings from a longitudinal study in obese children participating in a lifestyle intervention. Int J Obes 42, 1743–1752 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-018-0157-3

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