Soluble Receptor of Advanced Glycation End Products and Cardiometabolic Markers in Children

Background The soluble receptor for advanced glycation end products (sRAGE) is a proposed obesity biomarker, but its role in childhood has not been fully elucidated. This study aimed to evaluate the association between sRAGE levels and cardiometabolic factors in children according to body mass index (BMI). Introduction This cross-sectional study included 124 children aged 6-9 years, categorized as normal weight (n=72) and overweight or with obesity (n=52). Anthropometric and clinical measurements included weight, height, BMI, waist circumference (WC), neck circumference, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP). Fasting blood samples were collected to measure glucose, lipid profile, uric acid (UA), and sRAGE levels using standardized methods. We also calculated the triglyceride-glucose index (TyG), visceral adiposity index (VAI), and triglyceride-to-HDL-C (TG:HDL-C) ratio. Results Children who were overweight and obese exhibited lower sRAGE levels compared to the normal-weight group (p= 0.02) and higher WC, NC, UA, HDL-C, TG, SBP, DBP, TyG, TG:HDL-C ratio, and VAI than the normal-weight group (p<0.01). No differences in glucose, creatinine, and cholesterol were found. Finally, sRAGE levels showed correlations with BMI (r=-0.358, p=0.03), WC (r=-0.242, p=0.00), and HDL-cholesterol (r=0.207, p=0.01). Conclusions Children with obesity presented lower sRAGE levels and higher cardiometabolic risk markers, including higher WC, TG, TG: HDL-C ratio, TyG index, VAI score, and lower HDL-C than the normal weight group.