Carotid Intima-Media Thickness in Children with Overweight/Obesity: A Single-center Study

Our study aimed to assess Carotid artery Intima-Media Thickness (CIMT) in a group of children with overweight/obesity as a good predictor for atherosclerosis.We included 39 prepubertal children with Body Mass Indexes (BMI) above 85% for age and sex; 23% overweight, and 77% obese. Twenty matched non-obese healthy children were enrolled to compare CIMT results. About 44% of the cases had abnormal blood pressure, ~39% had dyslipidemia, and ~74% had an unhealthy metabolic state.We observed higher CIMT in cases than controls, with no significant difference between overweight and obese status (at a confidence interval of 95% and P < 0.05). CIMT was positively associated with the BMI of the whole study group, and with HC and triglyceride in the children with obesity. CIMT was significantly higher among children with overweight/obesity than in average weight children, regardless of their metabolic status or blood pressure stage.