Craniofacial morphology in obese adolescents

Overweight and obesity are growing problems in the world today. A recent survey shows that about 30% of the adolescent and adult Swedish population is overweight or obese. The etiology is a combination of many factors, the most important of which are physical inactivity and high caloric diet. Obese children have a normal to accelerated growth rate despite low growth hormone (GH) levels. The aim of our study was to investigate whether craniofacial morphology differs between obese adolescents and normal weight adolescents. Lateral cephalograms from 39 adolescents with obesity, aged 14-16 years, were analysed and compared with lateral cephalograms from an equal number of sex- and aged-matched controls. Compared to the controls, the subjects in the obesity group showed increased mandibular length, prognathic jaws and a reduced upper anterior face height. Despite low GH levels, obese children have normal levels of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1). Since we found an advanced craniofacial growth in obese adolescents with low GH and high IGF-1 serum levels, craniofacial growth may be more dependent on free circulating LGF-1 than on the locally produced portion.