Study on Correlation Between Vascular ET-1 and Adiponectin in Pediatric Obesity

Observational Retrospective Study on Correlation Between ET-1 and Ad in Obese Children

The aim of this study is to explore whether and how high circulating levels of endothelin-1 (ET-1) in obese and overweight children may contribute to impair adiponectin (Ad) production, release and vascular activity

Inclusion Criteria:

• Children will be enrolled into lean, overweight or obese groups based on Body mass index (BMI) calculated according to standard methods. International standards for sex-and age-specific BMI centiles for subjects aged 2-18 years will be used. The 95th centile of BMI reference is the cut off point for childhood obesity. Overweight and obese children are defined as those with a BMI higher than the centile curves.

Exclusion Criteria:

• presence of renal, liver and/or cardiovascular diseases;
• hypertension;
• metabolic and/or endocrine disorders;
• genetic syndromes;
• histories of chronic allergies, acute infectious or inflammatory diseases during the last 3 months preceding the study