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Updated: Jul 16, 2025

Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
[Adipomyokines in children with obesity]
Yu V Burmitskaya1, O V Vasyukova1, P L Okorokov1
1Endocrinology Research Center.
Insights
Obese adolescents show elevated levels of adipomyokines like IL-6 and irisin compared to healthy peers. Increased IL-6 correlates with higher BMI and adipose tissue, indicating a link between adipomyokines and obesity progression in children.
Area of Science:
- Endocrinology
- Pediatric Obesity
- Metabolic Health
Context:
- Adipomyokines, signaling molecules from adipose tissue and muscle, play dual roles in metabolism, potentially promoting inflammation in obesity or enhancing metabolic function with exercise.
- Understanding adipomyokine profiles in pediatric obesity is crucial for identifying metabolic risks and therapeutic targets.
Purpose:
- To investigate the specific patterns of adipomyokine secretion in children diagnosed with constitutionally exogenous obesity.
- To compare adipomyokine levels between obese children and a healthy control group.
Summary:
- This study analyzed adipomyokine levels in 60 obese adolescents and 20 healthy controls using enzyme immunoassays and bioimpedance analysis.
- Results revealed significantly higher levels of IL-6 and irisin in obese adolescents. IL-6, myostatin, and decorin concentrations increased with obesity severity.
- IL-6 levels positively correlated with BMI and adipose tissue mass, while irisin was higher in obese girls. Obese children also exhibited increased fat and lean mass, with a higher fat-to-lean mass ratio as obesity progressed.
Impact:
- Findings highlight distinct adipomyokine profiles in pediatric obesity, with elevated IL-6 linked to increased adipose tissue and obesity severity.
- The study underscores the need for further research into adipomyokine secretion, body composition, and metabolic complications in childhood obesity.
Background:
Adipomyokines are synthesized and secreted into the bloodstream by cells of both muscle and adipose tissue. They can have both a negative metabolic effect, acting as pro-inflammatory adipokines in obesity, and a positive one, increasing in response to physical exertion in the form of myokines.
Aim:
To study the features of adipocytokine secretion in children with constitutionally exogenous obesity.
Materials And Methods:
The study included 80 patients: 60 adolescents aged 15 [13; 16] years with constitutionally exogenous obesity SDS BMI: 3.0 [2.6; 3.3] and 20 control group children aged 16 [15; 17] years without excess weight SDS BMI: -0.3 [-1.25; 0.33]. Commercial enzyme immunoassay kits were used to determine the level of adipomyokines. The compositional composition of the body was evaluated by bioimpedance analysis (InBody 770 analyzer, South Korea) in the morning, on an empty stomach. Statistical processing was carried out using STATISTICA v.12.0 (StatSoft Inc., USA). The results are presented in the form of median (Me) and quartiles (Q1; Q3) corresponding to 25 and 75 percentiles. The critical significance level (p) was assumed to be <0.05.
Results:
Levels of IL-6 and irisin are statistically significantly higher in obese adolescents compared to the control group: 0.55 [0.226; 1.35] pg/ml vs 0.202 [0.128; 0.652] pg/ml (p=0.041) and 11.16 [6.6; 22.76] mcg/ml vs 7.36 [6.48; 9.68] mcg/ml (p=0.043), respectively. Concentrations of IL-6, myostatin and decorin increase with an increase in the degree of obesity: grade I vs III: 0.226 [0.224; 0.398] vs 0.80 [0.36; 1.81] pg/ml (p=0,0197), 25,85 [21,53; 28,23] vs 31.41 [24.36; 35.06] ng/ml (p=0.03), 4065.3 [3244.9; 5245.5] vs 5322.5 [4199.8; 7702.4] pg/ml (p=0.0376), respectively. In obese children, IL-6 levels positively correlate with BMI, SDS BMI and the amount of adipose tissue, and myostatin - with BMI and SDS BMI. The concentration of irisin in the blood serum is significantly higher in obese girls than in obese boys and healthy girls. Obese patients, compared with lean peers, are characterized by a statistically significantly higher content of both fat and lean mass. With the progression of obesity, there is a statistically significant increase in the ratio of fat to lean mass (I degree - 0.66 [0.56; 0.7], III - 0.78 [0.68; 0.98] (p=0.0073).
Conclusion:
Patients with obesity and normal body weight have different levels of adipomyokines. An increase in the level of IL-6 with the progression of obesity is directly related to an increase in the content of adipose tissue. Further study of the features of adipocytokine secretion, their relationship with the features of the body composition and metabolic complications in obesity is required.
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