title: Is albuminuria associated with obesity in school children?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Different studies in adults have shown that obesity is an independent risk factor for end-stage renal disease.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  It was to (i) determine the association between albuminuria and age, gender, BMI, waist circumference (WC), and blood pressure (ii) relate albuminuria to gender and age in healthy school children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Over 1564 students (806 males) aged 9.35 +/- 2.00 yr from 9 elementary schools in Buenos Aires, were examined between April and September 2005. BMI, WC, blood pressure, urinary albumin excretion and albumin/creatinine ratio (ACR) were determined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over 220 (14.1%) children were obese (OB), and 300 (19.2%) overweight (OW) using centers for disease control (CDC) norms. Median ACR and urinary albumin levels were higher in normal weight children than in OW/OB children (p < 0.01). Median values for ACR were higher in girls than in boys (p < 0.001). OW/OB proved to be a protective factor against ACR [OR, 0.77 (95% CI 0.64-0.92)], whereas female gender [OR, 2.72 (95% CI 2.13-3.47)] was associated with a higher ACR adjusted for age systolic and diastolic blood pressure in the multiple logistic regression analysis. Therefore, children with OW/OB had 23% lower odds of having ACR >or= III quartile and girls had more than two and half times the risk of having high ACR.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that OW/OB is inversely associated with childhood albuminuria while female gender is positively associated. Whether the results can be explained by the increased physical activity in lean children should be the subject of future investigations. These results suggest that micro-albuminuria in children may not be a useful tool in the early identification of children at risk for future renal and cardiovascular disease (CVD).
authors.affiliation: Nutrition and Diabetes Department, Hospital Durand, Buenos Aires, Argentina. vhirschler@intramed.net
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Hirschler
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Molinari
authors.forename: Gustavo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Maccallini
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Aranda
mesh_terms: D000419:Albuminuria / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D001118:Argentina / Q000453:epidemiology; D001794:Blood Pressure; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D003404:Creatinine / Q000652:urine*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000209:etiology; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D055105:Waist Circumference
chemical_list: D003404:Creatinine