Abstract

"Introduction. Childhood obesity is increasing over the world with serious health consequences. Intraabdominal fat is associated to some metabolic alterations in obesity. It does not exist a standard imaging method to measure adipose tissue in children. Objectives: In obese children to study the association between insulinemia and subcutaneous or intraabdominal fat evaluated by ultrasonographic (US) or computed tomography (CT). Subjects and Methods. 37 obese (BMI ? p95) prepubertal obese children (ages from 6 to 12 years) were assessed using anthropometric, US and CT for fat areas and linear intrabdominal segments measurements. Laboratory techniques were also performed: insulinemia and glycemia. Results. We found good correlations between US and TC intra-abdominal adipose tissue measurements (r= 0,79; p< 0,001). US (r=0.56) and CT (r=0.53) visceral fat assessment had better correlations with insulinemia than anthropometric measurements (BMI, r= 0,33; waist, r= 0.42). Conclusions. US and CT measurements of intraabdominal fat emerge as promising techniques to identify obesity-associated metabolic risk in childhood"