Effects of childhood and adolescent obesity on morbidity in adult life.

In order to determine the influence of onset of obesity on blood lipid levels and blood pressure (BP) in Serbian obese adults, we examined 500 obese adults: 250 with childhood or adolescent onset of obesity (prior to age 19)--Group A; 250 with adult onset of obesity (after age 19)--Group B. The following variables were assessed: anthropometric measurements, lipid profiles and BP. In Group A we found higher plasma triglycerides (p <0.01), lower HDL-cholesterol levels (p <0.01) and higher values of indices of atherogenic risk: LDL-C/HDL-C (p <0.05), TC/HDL-C (p <0.05) and Al (p <0.05). Group A had significantly higher values of systolic (p <0.05) and diastolic (p <0.05) BP. Our findings suggest that early onset of obesity is predictive for the development of dyslipidemia and hypertension in adult life and indicate that effective prevention and therapy of obesity in childhood and adolescence is important.