Searchable abstracts of presentations at key conferences in endocrinology
Endocrine Abstracts (2014) 35 P1007 | DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.35.P1007

ECE2014 Poster Presentations Thyroid (non-cancer) (125 abstracts)

The metabolic syndrome, and not obesity, is associated with fasting TSH in euthyroid obese children and adolescents

Federico Martucci 1 , Serena Magni 4 , Paola Rossetti 3 , Giuseppina Manzoni 1 , Stefania Di Candia 4 , Giovanna Weber 4 , Lucia Frittitta 3 , Riccardo Bonfanti 4 & Gianluca Perseghin 1,


1Metabolic Medicine, Policlinico di Monza, Monza, Italy; 2Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy; 3Division of Endocrinology, Università di Catania, Catania, Italy; 4Division of Pediatrics, Ospedale San Raffaele, Milano, Italy.


Increased serum TSH has been reported in obese children and adolescents and is considered an adaptive mechanism secondary to obesity. This study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that this adaptation is not associated with obesity per se but with its related metabolic alterations. Using a cross-sectional approach, we collected retrospectively fasting serum TSH concentration (if within the normal range), anthropometric parameters and criteria for the diagnosis of the metabolic syndrome in 697 Italian, euthyroid children and adolescents attending a University Pediatric Outpatient Obesity Clinic. The metabolic syndrome was absent in non-obese overweight subjects, but its prevalence was 7 and 8% in moderately and severely obese individuals. Serum TSH correlated with BMI, systolic blood pressure, the lipid profile and the metabolic syndrome. In a subset of patients in which additional biochemical parameters were available TSH also correlated with insulin, HOMA-IR, HbA1c and the white cell count. The metabolic syndrome and not obesity, was independently associated with the fasting TSH levels in the regression analysis. In conclusion the metabolic syndrome, and not obesity, was independently associated with higher serum TSH concentration in obese children and adolescents with normal thyroid function. Even if TSH at the high limit of the normal range probably reflects a mechanism of adaptation and not a causal factor in these youngsters, it should be tested as a potential marker of metabolic and cardiovascular risk.

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