The results of blood samples taken from obese children and adolescents are likely to be distorted, which could also affect the accuracy of medical diagnoses. The researchers behind this discovery are alerting doctors.
Can childhood obesity affect the results of blood samples? This is what researchers at the University of Toronto (Canada) seem to have discovered during a study of 1,300 healthy children and adolescents. Their results were published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
41 million overweight children in 2016
After having them pass a battery of blood tests, they realized that obesity could alter the results of at least 24 routine samples, “including liver function tests, inflammatory markers, as well as balance sheets lipid and ferric”. Being overweight can therefore distort the results of almost 70% of routine blood tests carried out in children and adolescents.
A worrying score when you know that thehe prevalence of childhood obesity has increased at an alarming rate in recent years. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is estimated that in 2016 the world had more than 41 million overweight children. Worse, “the number of overweight or obese infants and young children (0-5 years) worldwide has increased from 32 million in 1990 to 41 million in 2016.”
Beware of diagnostic errors
“Understanding how and which routine blood tests are affected by obesity is important to correctly interpret blood test results,” the study authors write. “Doctors must be aware of these biases”, they warn, aware that health professionals could miss a potentially serious diagnosis.
Because still according to the WHO, “lOverweight and obese children are more likely to contract non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases at an earlier age”. “We hope that the results of our study will help pediatricians and family physicians better assess children and adolescents with varying degrees of overweight or obesity.
In France, according to Public health France“the prevalence of overweight (obesity included) is estimated at 17%, between 6 and 17 years, of which 4% are obese” and “the prevalence of overweight (obesity included) remains higher in children whose reference persons in the cleaning are the least educated.”
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