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Introduction: Worldwide, childhood obesity is on the rise. A lot of debate exists within the scientific community regarding the best way to define overweight and obesity in different populations. Currently, three sets of growth references are in use internationally: the 2007 World Health Organization (WHO) growth standards, the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) reference, and the 2000 Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) growth charts. We examined the impact of using these international growth references on diagnosing obesity in a group of overweight and obese Romanian children. Afterwards, we evaluated the relationship between diagnosed obesity and insulin resistance status. Material and method: We studied retrospectively the observation charts of children who had their insulin levels tested in our hospital's laboratory between January 1st 2008 and December 31st 2009. The study population consisted of 76 children. We analyzed: age, gender, body mass index (BMI), the homeostatic model assessment: insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). We divided the children into two categories according to their HOMA-IR values. We used each of the standards and grouped the study population into two BMI groups: overweight and obese. We used One-Way ANOVA to evaluate the differences between the three definitions. Results: We found significant differences between the WHO and the IOTF and CDC references. The WHO standards identified the least overweight children with insulin resistance. Conclusions: Our study shows that using WHO growth standards may be the proper method to diagnose obese children. A large populational study is needed to establish the proper growth references for our population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Acanthosis nigricans (AN) is a dermatologic marker of hyperinsulinemia and has been linked with metabolic syndrome in adults. In children, the relationship between AN and different components of the metabolic syndrome has received mixed research results. We investigated whether the clinical and metabolic profile of obese children with AN was different from those without AN. Material and methods: We studied retrospectively the observation charts of children who were evaluated in our clinic for obesity and/or anomalies of glucose metabolism from January 1st 2005 to December 31st 2009. The study population consisted of 52 children. The analyzed data included: age, sex, body mass index (BMI), the presence or absence of AN, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, the results of the oral glucose tolerance test, triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels, baseline insulin, the homeostatic model assessment: insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), glicated hemoglobin. We divided our study population into two groups according to the presence or absence of AN. We used One-Way ANOVA to evaluate the clinical and metabolic differences between the two study groups. Results: We found significant differences between the two groups for BMI, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, baseline insulin and HOMA-IR. Conclusions: Our study shows that AN seems to be linked with most of the features of the metabolic syndrome in children. The relationship of AN and anomalies of glucose metabolism need further testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]