Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders and Abdominal Visceral Fat in Children and Adolescents

Few reports have investigated the correlation between functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) and the degree of obesity in children and adolescents. Thus, this study aimed to examine the relationship between FGIDs and the degree of obesity in children and adolescents.

Children and adolescents (<19 years old) who had undergone abdominopelvic computed tomography and had been diagnosed with FGIDs from 2015 to 2016 were included in this retrospective case-control study in a ratio of 1:2. Abdominal visceral fat was measured using an image analysis software.

The mean age of all 54 FGID patients was 12.9±3.4 years, and the male: female ratio was 1:1.2. We observed no difference in body mass index (BMI) between the FGID and control groups (19.5±4.6 vs. 20.6±4.3 kg/m², p=0.150). However, the FGID group had less abdominal visceral fat than that of the control group (26.2±20.0 vs. 34.4±26.9 cm², p=0.048). Boys in the FGID group had lower BMI (18.5±3.5 vs. 20.9±4.3 kg/m², p=0.019) and less abdominal visceral fat (22.8±15.9 vs. 35.9±31.8 cm², p=0.020) than those of boys in the control group. However, we found no difference in BMI (20.5±5.3 vs. 20.4±4.2 kg/m², p=0.960) and abdominal visceral fat (29.0±22.9 vs. 33.1±22.1 cm², p=0.420) between girls in both groups.

Our study revealed a difference in the relationship between FGID and the degree of obesity according to sex, which suggests that sex hormones influence the pathogenesis of FGIDs. Multicenter studies with larger cohorts are required to clarify the correlation between FGID subtypes and the degree of obesity.