The association of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and free thyroxine (fT4) concentration levels with carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in obese and overweight teenagers.

Introduction: Obesity has increased rapidly among children and adolescents during the last 30 years. Paediatric patients with a BMI above the 85th centile are more often diagnosed with increased TSH levels than are children with proper body weight. Material and methods: The data of 961 overweight and obese children, aged 13 years, recruited in four cities in Poland as part of PoZdro!, a two-year prophylactic program, were analysed to observe the relationship between serum TSH and fT4 concentration and carbohydrate and lipid metabolism parameters, as well as anthropometric parameters.Results: TSH concentration in the study group was positively correlated, whereas fT4 concentration was negatively correlated with WHR and WHtR values, fasting serum glucose concentrations and one-hour glucose concentration, fasting serum insulin concentrations, one-hour and two-hour insulin concentration, ALT serum activity, as well as total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglyceride serum concentrations. An increased risk of metabolic syndrome was diagnosed previously in patients with TSH concentrations > 2.5 mUI/L. Conclusions: TSH concentration in the upper half of the current reference range (> 2.50 mIU/L) is associated with an increased risk of lipid and carbohydrate metabolism disorders and therefore increased chances of developing metabolic syndrome. It seems advisable to regularly monitor thyroid function in overweight and obese paediatric patients

The institutional readiness of the World Health Organization on health risks

The World Health Organization (WHO) directs and coordinates activities relating to health within the United Nations. In response to the existing and anticipated health risks, WHO has undertaken a number of actions to improve the health status of the population on a global scale. The institutional readiness to emergencies significantly increases the opportunities of coordinated and unified actions, which could improve effectiveness of actions. In order to efficiently respond to threats the document called Emergency Response Framework (ERF) was created. The ERF sets out: WHO’s core commitments in emergency response which are those actions that WHO is committed to delivering in emergencies with public health consequences to minimize mortality and life-threatening morbidity by leading a coordinated and effective health sector response; the steps WHO will take between the initial alert of an event and its eventual emergency classification; WHO’s internal grading process for emergencies including the steps to remove a grade. The ERF specify the role of WHO’s Global Emergency Management Team (GEMT) during emergency response, particularly refer to the optimal use of Organization-wide resources, the monitoring of the implementation of adequate procedures and policies, and the management of WHO’s internal and external communications. The ERF present WHO’s Emergency Response Procedures (ERPs) that specify tasks and responsibilities across the Organization. The institutional readiness to emergencies such as epidemics is essential to improve the health status of the population on a global scale. Methods for such a readines should be continuously developed and modernized, and adapted to the needs and abilities of the population to which they relate. This can make a significant contribution to enhancing their efficiency, and thus to help achieve the goals of WHO

Fitness, Food, and Biomarkers: Characterizing Body Composition in 19,634 Early Adolescents

Adolescent obesity persists as a major concern, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, yet evidence gaps exist regarding the pivotal early adolescent years. Our objective was to provide a comprehensive picture using a holistic approach of measured anthropometry in early adolescence, including body composition, cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), and reported lifestyle characteristics. We aimed to elucidate potential sex/gender differences throughout and associations to biomarkers of disease risk for obese adolescents. Methods: Trained nurses measured 19,634 early adolescents (12–14-year-olds), we collected parental reports, and, for obese adolescents, fasting blood samples in four major Polish cities using a cross-sectional developmental design. Results: 24.7% boys and 18.6% girls were overweight/obese, and 2886 had BMI ≥ 90th percentile. With increasing age, there was greater risk of obesity among boys (p for trend = 0.001) and a decreasing risk of thinness for girls (p for trend = 0.01). Contrary to debate, we found BMI (continuous) was a useful indicator of measured fat mass (FM). There were 38.6% with CRF in the range of poor/very poor and was accounted for primarily by FM in boys, rather than BMI, and systolic blood pressure in girls. Boys, in comparison to girls, engaged more in sports (t = 127.26, p p p < 0.0001). Uric acid, a potential marker for prediabetes, was strongly related to BMI in the obese subsample for both boys and girls. Obese girls showed signs of undernutrition. Conclusion: these findings show that overweight/obesity is by far a larger public health problem than thinness in early adolescence and is characterized differentially by sex/gender. Moreover, poor CRF in this age, which may contribute to life course obesity and disease, highlights the need for integrated and personalized intervention strategies taking sex/gender into account