Does FMF have a property to protect children from obesity?

Faysal Gok, lsmail Dursun, lbrahim Gokce
2010 Health (Irvine, Calif.)  
Objectives: This study investigates the prevalence of obesity in children with familial Mediterranean fever (FMF). Material and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 70 patients with FMF whose cases had been followed in our Pediatric Nephrology and Rheumatology Unit. The height and weight measurements of children with FMF were obtained and body mass index was calculated. Results: The mean body mass index was 16.7± 2.4 in the boys, and 17.4±2.9 in the girls. Nine of the
more » ... dren (five boys, four girls) were found to be overweight, a rate of 12.8% in FMF patients. Obesity was not detected in FMF patients. Conclusions: We think that there are some unligteening molecular mechanisms that prevent obesity in FMF patients. Due to the limited number of patients in this study, further research involving more patients are needed. 269 were dressed in light indoor clothing and bare feet or stockings. The subjects were weighed to the nearest 0.1 kg with an electronic scale (SECA 762; Vogel & Hakle, Hamburg, Germany) calibrated daily at the beginning of each working day. Height was measured with a stadiometer in the vertical position, erect, with parallel feet and ankles, and with the shoulders and bottom touching the wall. The height and weight data were used to calculate the body mass index (BMI) (kg/m 2 ) using the formula: weight (kg) divided by height (m) squared. The BMI normalized centile curves for Turkish children were applied to define obesity and the values of 95 percent or more were accepted as obesity [11] . F. Gök et al. / HEALTH 2 (2010) 268-271
doi:10.4236/health.2010.23038 fatcat:73puujorunalllc5vqfvquejey