Children with metabolically healthy obesity have a worse metabolic profile compared to normal-weight peers: a cross-sectional study

Purpose A phenotype of metabolically healthy obesity (MHO) has been described in youth with obesity, but data are still scarce in this age group. The aim of the current study was to describe and compare clinical and laboratory parameters related to obesity among three different groups of youth, namely youth with normal weight (NW), with MHO, and with metabolically unhealthy obesity (MUO). Methods One hundred and three youngsters with obesity were divided according to 2018 consensus-based criteria into those with MHO [ n = 49, age (±SD): 10.9 ± 2.9 years] and those with MUO [ n = 54, 11.5 ± 2.7 years] and were compared to age-, sex- and Tanner-matched NW [ n = 69, 11.3 ± 2.9 years]. Several obesity-related parameters were investigated for all three groups of children. Comparisons were made by analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by the Fisher’s PLSD test. Results Youth with MHO had lower systolic ( p