The impact of obesity on left ventricular mass and left ventricular systolic function in children

Background Obesity causes cardiovascular disturbances. Theincidence of cardiovascular disease is higher even in mildly obesepatients than in lean subjects.Objectives The purpose of this study was to compare left ven-tricular (LV) mass, LV internal dimensions, and LV systolic func-tion between obese and normal children; and to determine the as-sociation of the degree of obesity with LV mass and LV systolicfunction.Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted on elemen-tary school students in Jakarta from February to April 2003. Wemeasured the subjects’ body weight and height, and performedlipid profile and echocardiography examinations. Measurementsof LV mass, LV internal dimensions with regard to septum thick-ness, LV internal diameter, and LV posterior wall thickness; andLV systolic function as indicated by shortening fraction and ejec-tion fraction, were performed echocardiographically. The differ-ences in measurements between obese and normal children aswell as between obese children with and without lipid abnormalitywere analyzed. The correlation between the degree of obesity withLV size and systolic function was determined.Results Twenty-eight normal children and 62 obese children wereenrolled in the study. Mean LV mass was 35.7 (SD 5.16) g/cm 3 inobese children versus 24.0 (SD 3.80) g/cm 3 in normal children(P