Obesity and Overweight Associated Blood Lipid, Haemoglobin and Blood Pressure Dynamics in School Children: A Cross Sectional Study from Kerala, India

Abstract

The study was carried out to determine the change in bio chemical parameters with the incidence of obesity among school children aged 7 to 12 years. Sample size consisted of 200 children, with 100 each respectively from obese and normal weight children. Childhood obesity was related with lipid levels which in turn is associated with cardiovascular risk factors. The mean values of haemoglobin and blood pressure increased with body weight for both boys and girls. A positive correlation between biochemical parameters such as serum cholesterol, serum triglyceride, LDL, VLDL, HDL, haemoglobin, blood pressure and obesity was observed. The study also made an attempt to derive at regression equations by determining the correlation between blood lipid profile vs obesity and blood pressure vs obesity. The predictive index for childhood obesity was formulated for both boys and girls based on the biochemical parameters. For boys it is y = 10.4 + 0.169x1 + 0.90x2 + 0.278x3 – 0.015x4 + 0.2x5 – 0.831x6 – 4.18x7 and for girls it was derived as is y = – 20.0 + 0.006x1 + 0.149x2 – 0.06x3 + 0.067x4 + 0.133x5 – 0.001x6 , Where, x1 – Serum cholesterol, x2 - Serum TG, x3 - HDL, x4 – LDL, x5 – Systolic BP, x6 – Diastolic BP and x7 – VLDL.