Obese adolescents in central India: genetic insights into early risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease

Abstract

Obesity in adolescents is a growing public health concern, contributing to early onset of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes. The present study evaluated anthropometric indices [body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), neck circumference (NC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR)] in relation to lipid and hormonal profiles [triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), HbA1c]. Genetic polymorphisms including CAPN10 rs3792267, KCNJ11 rs5219, PPAR-γ Pro12Ala, and variants in apolipoproteins (ApoA1, ApoE, ApoB, ApoCIII) were analysed to assess their contribution to obesity and metabolic risk. Significant associations were observed between anthropometric measures and lipid parameters, underlining the predictive value of simple indices for dyslipidaemia in adolescents. However, no correlation was found between HbA1c levels and obesity. Furthermore, genetic polymorphisms studied did not show significant association with obesity susceptibility or insulin secretion. Although apolipoprotein gene variants contributed to understanding lipid metabolism, no significant differences in genotype frequencies were detected between cases and controls. These findings highlight the importance of early identification of lipid abnormalities in obese adolescents, while suggesting a limited role of the selected genetic variants in this cohort.