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Uric acid and unhealthy metabolic phenotype in Colombian children

Gina Gonzalez-Valencia1, Johana Hernandez2, Silvia Rueda2

  • 1Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, School of Medicine, University of Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia. ginagv.endoped@gmail.com.

Pediatric Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism
|February 16, 2026
PubMed

Insights

Children with metabolically unhealthy obesity have higher uric acid (UA) levels than metabolically healthy peers. Elevated UA may serve as a marker for metabolic risk in pediatric obesity.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Endocrinology
  • Metabolic Health
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Childhood overweight and obesity present a growing public health challenge.
  • Identifying differential markers between metabolically healthy obese (MHO) and metabolically unhealthy obese (MUHO) children is crucial.
  • Uric acid (UA) is being investigated as a potential metabolic risk marker.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate differences in uric acid (UA) levels in children with overweight or obesity.
  • To classify children based on metabolic phenotype using the 2018 Damanhoury criteria.
  • To assess the relationship between UA levels and insulin resistance indices.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective cross-sectional study of children aged 5-18 years.
  • Eighty patients were categorized into MHO (n=36) and MUHO (n=44) groups based on triglycerides, glucose, HDL-C, and blood pressure.
  • Student's t-test analyzed mean UA differences; correlations with insulin resistance indices were examined.

Main Results:

  • A statistically significant difference in UA levels was observed between MUHO (5.4 mg/dl) and MHO (4.5 mg/dl) groups (p=0.0069).
  • Moderate positive correlations were found between UA levels and the TyG ratio (0.4137) and TG/HDL index (0.3813).

Conclusions:

  • Uric acid levels are significantly higher in metabolically unhealthy obese children compared to metabolically healthy obese children.
  • Elevated UA levels correlate with markers of insulin resistance.
  • UA may serve as a valuable metabolic risk marker for evaluating pediatric overweight and obesity.
Abstract

Keywords:
insulin resistanceobesityobesity metabolically benignuric acidoverweight

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