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. 2023 Jun;38(6):1867-1876.
doi: 10.1007/s00467-022-05810-z. Epub 2022 Nov 22.

Relation between obesity-related comorbidities and kidney function estimation in children

Mark J C M van Dam  1 , Hans Pottel  2 , Anita C E Vreugdenhil  3
Affiliations

Relation between obesity-related comorbidities and kidney function estimation in children

Mark J C M van Dam et al. Pediatr Nephrol. 2023 Jun.

Abstract

Background: The current childhood obesity pandemic is likely to result in an increased risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) later in life. Correlations between obesity-related comorbidities and kidney function can be found, but it is unclear to what extent this is caused by bias due to different mathematical forms of the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) equations. The present study aimed to analyze correlations between obesity-related comorbidities and different eGFR equations and to investigate whether rescaled serum creatinine (SCr/Q) for sex and age or height might be an alternative biomarker for kidney function estimation.

Methods: This cross-sectional cohort study included 600 children with overweight and obesity. Mean age was 12.20 ± 3.28 years, 53.5% were female, and mean BMI z-score was 3.31 ± 0.75. All children underwent a comprehensive assessment that included anthropometrical and blood pressure measurements, laboratory examination, air displacement plethysmography, and polysomnography. Qage and Qheight polynomials were used to rescale SCr and multiple creatinine-based eGFR equations were compared.

Results: SCr/Q and almost all GFR estimations significantly correlated with a waist-to-hip ratio, fat mass, homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance, and triacylglyceride, HDL cholesterol, alanine transaminase, and serum uric acid concentrations. Multiple correlations, however, were not confirmed by all equations, which suggests dependency on the mathematical form of the different eGFR equations.

Conclusions: Correlations between obesity-related comorbidities and creatinine-based eGFR are present in children with overweight and obesity, but depend to a large extent on the eGFR equation of choice. SCr/Q might be an alternative biomarker for assessing correlations between obesity-related comorbidities and kidney function in children with overweight and obesity. A higher resolution version of the Graphical abstract is available as Supplementary information.

Keywords: Childhood obesity; Creatinine; Obesity-related comorbidities; Pediatrics; eGFR.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

None
A higher resolution version of the Graphical abstract is available as Supplementary information
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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