Study of Serum Uric Acid Levels in Obese Children and Adolescents

Obesity in children has become a serious public health issue facing the world today. Serum uric acid is a product of the metabolic breakdown of purine nucleotides; higher serum uric acid levels are an essential risk factor of obesity. Aim of the work is to evaluate serum uric acid levels in association with lipid profile as an indicator of metabolic risk in obese children and adolescents. Patients and methods this observational, cross –sectional study was conducted on one hundred obese children who had BMI ≥ 95th percentile according to CDC criteria, who was recruited from outpatient pediatric clinic in Alzahraa University Hospital in the period from August 2021 to May 2022. All enrolled children were subjected to detailed medical history and clinical examination, besides the following investigation: complete blood count, lipid profile analysis; total serum cholesterol, low- and high-density lipoproteins (LDL&HDL) and serum triglyceride (TG), serum uric acid. Results it was found that obese children experienced higher Z score of BMI, waist circumference, waist/height ratio, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and high serum cholesterol, LDL, TG, serum uric acid and low HDL were observed in obese children. Serum uric acid has a positive correlation with total cholesterol and LDL and a negative correlation with HDL level. Conclusion serum uric acid levels are significantly increased with obesity, and significant correlation with lipid profile was found and it could be used as an indicator of metabolic risk in obese children and adolescents.