Oxidative stress in adolescents with overweight/obesity

The pathophysiological mechanism underlying obesity and related diseases is still incompletely understood. A small number of studies employed sophisticated statistical techniques, such as principal component analysis (PCA), to investigate the relationship between oxidative stress, cardiometabolic biomarkers, and obesity in the adolescent population. Hence, we aimed to examine this relationship.

A total of 68 adolescents (i.e., 34 were overweight/obese, and 34 were sexand age-matched normal-weight controls) were included in the study. Total oxidant status (TOS) and total antioxidant status (TAS) were measured, whereas their ratios were calculated, i.e., pro-oxidant score [(TOS/TAS)*100] and antioxidant score (TAS/TOS). PCA was applied to reduce the number of determined data by grouping them into factors.

A significantly higher concentration of TAS, TOS, and their pro-oxidant ratio (TOS/TAS)*100, while the antioxidant score of TAS/TOS was considerably lower in overweight/obese adolescents compared to normal-weight peers. TOS was the most significant predictor of obesity status (P= 0.001). PCA extracted 3 factors related to obesity status: Factor 1 (gender, creatinine, uric acid, total bilirubin, TAS, waist circumference, and urea), Factor 2 (ALT and AST), and Factor 3 (age, glucose, total protein, and TOS). Among them, Factor 2 (P= 0.003) and Factor 3 (P= 0.003) were independently associated with obesity.

The present study provides evidence of disrupted redox homeostasis in adolescents with obesity. Obesity is tightly connected with increased oxidative stress and a cluster of metabolic abnormalities. It is essential to identify risk factors promptly and develop a strategy to combat obesity and its associated diseases.