Reduced cardiac vagal activity in obese children and adolescents

• OBJECTIVE: Obese children present with various cardiovascular risk factors affecting their future health. In adults, cardiac autonomic function is a major risk factor, predicting cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. We hypothesized that obese children and adolescents had a lower cardiac vagal activity than lean subjects. We measured cardiac spontaneous baroreflex sensitivity (BRS), reflecting the dynamic regulation of cardiac vagal function, in large groups of obese and lean young individuals. METHODS AND RESULTS: Cardiac BRS, using the sequence approach, was assessed in 120 obese (59 girls), 43 overweight (23 girls) and 148 lean subjects (78 girls). Obese subjects showed a decreased BRS compared to both overweight and lean subjects [16+/-7 versus 21+/-9 (P<0.01) and 22+/-10 ms per mmHg (P<0.0001), respectively]. The differences remained after correcting for age, gender and pubertal status. CONCLUSION: Children with obesity had low vagal activity at rest, and there was no gender difference.

Nyckelord

Adolescent

*Baroreflex

Blood Pressure

Body Mass Index

Case-Control Studies

Child

Down-Regulation

Female

Heart/*innervation

Heart Rate

Humans

Male

Obesity/*physiopathology

Sweden

Vagus Nerve/*physiopathology

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)