title: Weight change associated with corticosteroid therapy in adolescents with systemic lupus erythematosus.
abstract: Physical appearance is very important to adolescents and weight gain secondary to corticosteroid (CS) treatment may have a direct impact on adolescent development. Understanding weight gain in adolescents with SLE who are being treated with CS will help clinicians develop strategies for prevention of nonadherence, obesity and eating disorders in this population.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients aged 11-18 years old with newly diagnosed SLE between January,1995 and December, 2006 were identified through the Rheumatology database at the Sickkids hospital, Canada. All charts were reviewed. Patients were categorized based on final BMI status as normal, overweight and obese. Risk factors for being obese were examined by logistic regression model analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 236 patients, 78% fulfilled the criteria. 85% were female with mean age at onset of diagnosis was 14 ± 1.7 years. Mean duration of CS treatment was 50 ± 31 months and mean cumulative CS dosage was 34.11 ± 32.7 g of prednisone. At baseline, 10% had BMI >25 kg/m(2) while at the end of the study, 20% were overweight and 10.4% were obese. In addition, 61% gained <10 kg while 15% gained ≥20 kg. Initial BMI was a significant predictors for final BMI (OR = 27.59, 95%CI = 6.04-126.09, p < .001) while male (OR = 8.50, 95%CI = 2.95-24.5, p < 0.000) and cumulative CS dosage (OR = 1.53, 95%CI = 1.05-2.23, p < .05) were the significant predictors for weight gain >10 kg. Duration of CS treatment did not correlate with obesity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although a significant number of patients became overweight or obese after being treated with CS, most gained <10 kg. Obesity secondary to CS treatment in SLE patients was significantly correlated with baseline BMI, gender and cumulative CS dosage.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Thailand.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Manaboriboon
authors.forename: E D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Silverman
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Homsanit
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chui
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaufman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D015430:Weight Gain / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D005938:Glucocorticoids