Evaluation of Serum Chemerin and Lipid accumulation product as Predictors of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Simple Obese Egyptian Children

Abstract

<strong><em>Background</em></strong><br /> The increase in the prevalence of obesity worldwide has led to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) becoming one of the most common causes of chronic liver disease. Chemerin is a novel adipokine which regulates adipogenesis which is also a marker of systemic and vascular inflammation. Lipid accumulation product (LAP) is associated with the presence and severity of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in adults. We aimed to evaluate the clinical usefulness of both serum chemerin and LAP as predictors of NAFLD in children with simple obesity.<br /> <strong><em>Materials and Methods: </em></strong>This was a prospective cross-sectional study including 65 obese children with age range of 6–18 years old from pediatric obesity and endocrine outpatient clinic, Children's University Hospital, Minia University, Egypt, in addition to 30 healthy children, age and sex matched as control group. The included children were subjected to careful history taking, thorough clinical examination and laboratory investigations including liver enzymes, fasting blood glucose (FBG), fasting serum insulin, lipid profile and serum chemerin. Then LAP was calculated using waist circumference and serum triglyceride.<br /> <strong><em>Results: </em></strong>Serum chemerin and LAP were significantly higher in obese children (p-<0.01). LAP had 95.2% sensitivity and 70.5% specificity at a cut-off point > 41; while serum chemerin at a cut-off point of > 271.7 ng/dl showed an 85.4% sensitivity and 51.4%% specificity for prediction of liver steatosis in our obese participants.<br /> <strong><em>Conclusion</em></strong><br /> Based on the results, serum chemerin may be considered as an acceptable indicator of NAFLD in obese children but LAP is a more available, easy and inexpensive tool to predict NAFLD in those children.