Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Visceral obesity is a primary risk factor for metabolic syndrome and is associated with short- and long-term effects on physical and psychosocial health. It is now known that body mass index (BMI), which is used as the main method of diagnosing obesity, does not allow the assessment of body composition and differentiation of visceral adipose tissue.The aim of the study. To investigate the features of body composition that influence metabolic risks in primary school children.

Materials and methods.: Prior to any procedures of the study protocol informed consent was signed by the child’s legal representative or self at the age of 15. We examined 519 children aged 8 to 12 years, including anthropometry (height, weight, BMI, SDS BMI). SDS BMI was calculated using Anthroplus WHO software developed by the World Health Organization for children aged 6 to 19 years. Body composition was assessed in all participants using an Inbody 770 analyser (Inbody Co. Ltd, Korea). Statistical processing of the results was performed using SPSS Statistics 25.0.

Results: Fat mass parameters in girls and boys from the obese and overweight groups were comparable to the SDS BMI values. The 11% of normal weight girls (n=146) had increased body fat mass, 32.2% had increased body fat percentage, and 7.5% had visceral obesity (VO). Among all female examinees, 45.9% had decreased muscle mass. Boys with normal body weight (n=147) had increased fat mass in 17.7% cases, 34.7% of those examined had increased percentage of fat mass and 2.1% had visceral obesity. Among all boys surveyed, 17.5% had decreased muscle mass. Weight deficient children, irrespective of gender, had no excess fat mass but all had deficit muscle mass.

Conclusions: The results obtained in the survey are probably related to lifestyle aspects of modern children, such as low physical activity and an unbalanced diet. The revealed changes in body composition in children with normal SDS BMI indicate the need for more active diagnostic tactics and the use of additional tools to diagnose these deviations and their correction. The use of bioimpedance measurement will allow early detection of signs of visceral obesity in children, irrespective of BMI.