Associations of Ultrasound Findings with Serum Iron and Ferritin Levels in Children with Obesity

• Published in: Life (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 14; no. 4; p. 484
• Main Authors: Stepan, Mioara Desdemona, Vintilescu, Ștefănița Bianca, Ionele, Claudiu Marinel, Dumitra, Gheorghe Gindrovel, Podeanu, Mihaela Andreea, Bigea, Camelia Cristiana, Sacerdoțianu, Victor Mihai, Anastasescu, Cătălina Mihaela, Florescu, Dan Nicolae
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.04.2024
• Subjects: Age; Body fat; Body mass index; Children; Chronic illnesses; Complications and side effects; Damage detection; Diagnosis; Diagnosis, Ultrasonic; echographic; Family allowances (Welfare); Fatty liver; Ferritin; Fibrosis; Gender; Health aspects; Inflammation; Investigations; Iron; Iron in the body; Liver; Liver diseases; Measurement; Medical personnel; Metabolic syndrome; Nutritional status; Obesity; Obesity in children; Pediatric research; Pediatrics; Physiological aspects; Risk factors; Tumor necrosis factor-TNF; Ultrasonic imaging; ultrasound; Ultrasound imaging; Romania; ferritin; children; echographic; elastographic; iron; obesity; ultrasound
• ISSN: 2075-1729; 2075-1729
• DOI: 10.3390/life14040484

The nutritional status of children is always a concern for medical professionals. Increasingly, obesogenic factors have created a new global epidemic. Obesity is characterized by persistent inflammation, which can have detrimental effects on the growth and development of children. Iron and ferritin are both important factors to consider when evaluating these children due to their role in the pathophysiology of chronic inflammation. Recently, ultrasonographic evaluation seems to be an increasingly used method in pediatric clinical practice. In this study, we included 98 children aged 6–14 years, 72 of whom were obese and 26 had normal weight. The data obtained indicated that there was an association between low iron and increased ferritin levels, aspects of non-alcoholic fatty liver visualized by ultrasonography, and the degree of fibrosis assessed elastographically. Ultrasonography can help us identify liver damage, but the possibility of identifying an association with other paraclinical investigations such as iron and ferritin levels can be cumulative. In this way, the assessment can be more complex, as the child benefits from comprehensive evaluation and management. The results drew attention to non-invasive, easy-to-perform, and low-cost methods of assessing obese children in terms of iron metabolism and structural liver changes.