**Adiponectin, Inflammation and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Paediatric Obese Patients: Impact of Interventional Studies Provisional chapter Adiponectin, Inflammation and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Paediatric Obese Patients: Impact of**

Henrique Nascimento, Susana Coimbra, Carla Rêgo,

Alice Santos-Silva and Luís Belo Henrique Nascimento, Susana Coimbra, Carla Rêgo, Alice Santos-Silva and Luís Belo

**Interventional Studies**

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http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/65722

#### **Abstract**

Paediatric obesity has significant physic, social and psychological implications. Childhood obesity is usually associated in adulthood with increased risk of type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular diseases. Aggregation of cardiometabolic risk factors is already observed at young ages, with a nonlinear association with enhancement of adiposity. Adiponectin is an adipokine that inhibits inflammation, oxidative stress and metabolic syndrome components, namely dyslipidaemia, high blood pressure and insulin resistance. Obesity has been associated with hypoadiponectinaemia in both adult and paediatric patients, which may contribute to co‐morbidities observed in these patients. Interventional studies that aim to tackle obesity reported controversial results. Although the general positive effect on weight loss, inflammatory and cardiometabolic markers has been studied, the impact of these interventional studies on adiponectin remains unclear. Some studies reported that the improvement in adiponectin might only occur in paediatric obese patients with great weight loss or intensive physical exercise; the magnitude of the changes in body composition appears to be of particular importance. A revision about the knowledge on the relation between adiponectin, inflammation and cardiometabolic risk factors in paediatric patients is performed; the impact of interventional studies on adiponectin levels and markers of cardiometabolic risk is also addressed.

**Keywords:** adiponectin, inflammation, obesity, paediatric age, cardiometabolic risk factors

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© 2017 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution,
