Publication:

Association of bone age with overweight and obesity in children in the age group of 8 to 11 years

Background Obesity is one of the most common nutritional problems in developed countries. The prevalence of obesity is rapidly progressing in children. It is associated with serious health hazards in adolescence and especially in adulthood, like hypertension, coronary artery disease, diabetes mellitus, etc.

Methods A cross sectional study was conducted on 60 children fulfilling the inclusion criteria aged 8 to 11 years, of which 30 children were obese and 30 children were overweight. The body mass index (BMI) values of the children were plotted against the corresponding WHO charts. Children were segregated as overweight and Obese based on the BMI. Based on a radiological examination of skeletal development of the left-hand wrist, bone age is assessed and then compared with the chronological age.

Results Among the study population the mean bone age index of obese children was 1.08615 and the mean bone age index of overweight children was 0.98097 which was statistically significant. Bone age index=0.016 (BMI)+0.6742.   By using this formula we derived that a BMI of 19 or above triggered significant acceleration of bone age.

Conclusions In our study by deriving at the bone age index of both obese and overweight children and comparing them, we found that the trends of obesity affecting the bone age is significantly more than overweight children. Hence the lifestyle modifications in overweight children are vital so as not to get into obese category. This will prevent the bone age changes which in turn will avoid serious health hazards in adolescence and especially in adulthood.