The relationship of eating behavior with biochemical blood parameters in children and adolescents born preterm

BACKGROUND: Prematurity is a risk for the formation of adverse metabolic disorders, the components of which can progress and lead to obesity. However, at the moment, the presence and nature of interrelations of metabolic parameters with the type of nutrition have not been established, there is also no clear idea of the age and structure of the initial manifestations of metabolic shifts, the prevalence of eating disorders in children born prematurely. AIMS: To determine the frequency and structure of the initial manifestations of the metabolic syndrome (abdominal obesity, impaired glucose tolerance, dyslipidemia, hypertension); to establish associations of types of eating behavior with biochemical parameters characterizing the adverse metabolic phenotype in children and adolescents born prematurely. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study involved 123 children: in the main group (group 1) there were children and adolescents aged 10-17 years 11 months who were born prematurely (less than 37 weeks at birth and less than 2500 grams at birth), in the control group (group 2) included full-term children (more than 37 weeks and more than 2500 grams at birth). The study included clinical anthropometry with measurement of body weight, height, waist circumference (WC) and hips (HC), followed by calculation of body mass index (BMI) and ratio of WC/HC, measurement of blood pressure (BP). Eating behavior (EB) was assessed using a modified validated Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ). RESULTS: WC equal to or above the 90th percentile were only in children from the main group (4 children (9.7%).There were not observed such parameters in the control group (χ²=4.63, p=0.047). BP higher than the 95th percentile was observed mainly in children born prematurely: 19 children (46.3%) against one (3.3%) of the control group (χ²=21.94, p <0.001). Eating disorders are often found in both groups (59 of 123 (47.9%)): the control group had 35 of 65 (53.8%) children against 24 of 58 (41.4%) of the main group (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The components of metabolic syndrome are registered more often in children born prematurely. Eating disorders are often found in both groups

Vitamin D Status Among Children With Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis: A Multicenter Prospective, Non-randomized, Comparative Study

BackgroundJuvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by destructive and inflammatory damage to the joints. The aim in this study was to compare vitamin D levels between children and adolescents, 1–18 years of age, with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and a health control group of peers. We considered effects of endogenous, exogenous, and genetic factors on measured differences in vitamin D levels among children with JIA.MethodsOur findings are based on a study sample of 150 patients with various variants of JIA and 277 healthy children. The blood level of vitamin D was assessed by calcidiol level. The following factors were included in our analysis: age and sex; level of insolation in three regions of country (center, south, north); assessment of dietary intake of vitamin D; effect of prophylactic doses of cholecalciferol; a relationship between the TaqI, FokI, and BsmI polymorphisms of the VDR gene and serum 25(OH)D concentration.ResultsWe identified a high frequency of low vitamin D among children with JIA, prevalence of 66%, with the medial level of vitamin D being within the range of “insufficient” vitamin D. We also show that the dietary intake of vitamin D by children with JIA is well below expected norms, and that prophylactic doses of vitamin D supplementation (cholecalciferol) at a dose of 500–1,000 IU/day and 1,500–2,000 IU/day do not meet the vitamin D needs of children with JIA. Of importance, we show that vitamin D levels among children with JIA are not affected by clinical therapies to manage the disease nor by the present of VDR genetic variants.ConclusionProphylactic administration of cholecalciferol and season of year play a determining role in the development of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency