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Elevated Liver Enzymes in Obese Children: Presented at DDW

By Roberta Friedman

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- May 21, 2002 -- Childhood obesity may set the stage for liver damage, with elevated liver enzymes a warning sign, according to researchers.

Dr. Yoram Elitsur, of Marshall University School of Medicine, Huntington, West Virginia, United States, presented the findings here Monday at the 103^rd annual meeting of the American Gastroenterological Association and Digestive Disease Week (DDW).

Dr. Elitsur and colleagues reviewed the charts of 2,550 patients older than two years, 902 of which included liver enzyme measures. Their analysis revealed that liver enzymes were elevated in a greater proportion of children who were obese, as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) nomogram, than in those of normal body mass index.

Excluding other clinical reasons that could result in elevated liver enzymes, more than half of the abnormal readings were clearly associated with obesity in the children sampled, he said. Possible other reasons for high readings that were excluded from the sample included drug toxicity, ulcerative colitis, cholelithiasis, choledochal cyst, biliary atresia, and hepatitis.

Only children age eight or older showed the association. Of 191 children rated as obese, 17 had elevated liver enzymes. One of the 128 children rated overweight by the CDC nomogram had elevated enzymes. Of the remaining 583 children, 15 had elevations. The difference was statistically significant: 9 percent of obese children had elevated readings compared to 2.5 percent of normal weight children.

Dr. Elitsur said the increase in liver enzymes "is a sign of pathology." Of the 90 percent of obese children who did not show elevated enzymes, "all probably had fatty liver" and were at risk for liver damage.

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