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Background: Overweight and obesity is associated with metabolic and cardiovascular complications even in children and adolescents. Obesity in childhood represents a serious health problem, as an obese child frequently remains obese subject in adulthood. Obesity is also an important early risk factor for morbidity and mortality in adulthood. The aim of this study was to follow changes in selected anthropometric parameters and cardiometabolic risks in overweight and obese adolescents in response to a 4-week spa weight management program., Methods and Results: The studied cohort included 342 adolescents (boys, n = 121, girls, n = 221); mean age (+/- SD) 14.9 +/- 1.4 years (range 13.0 to 17.9 years) with overweight or obesity, mean BMI (+/- SD) 30.1 +/- 4.4 kg/m2 who underwent a 4-week spa weight management program. Anthropometric (body height and weight, waist circumference, sagittal abdominal diameter, total body fat and intra-abdominal fat), clinical (blood pressure) and biochemical (total cholesterol, HDL and LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, insulin) parameters were studied. All examinations were conducted before and after a 4-week weight management program. Statistical evaluation of the data was performed by ANOVA. The data are expressed as means +/- SD. In response to treatment all subjects demonstrated significant decreases in initial body weight (-6.3 +/- 2.3 %), percent of total fat (-2.7 +/- 2.5 %), percent of trunk fat (-2.5 +/- 1.5 %), degree of enlargement in visceral fat stores (-2.1 +/- 2.8), as well as reductions in waist circumference (-4.7 +/- 3.2 cm) and sagittal abdominal diameter (-1.0 +/- 1.8 cm). Positive changes in lipid profile and decrease in insulin resistance as measured by HOMA-IR were also recorded together with significant reductions in both systolic and diastolic blood pressures., Conclusions: Short-term weight management program in adolescents led to significant reductions in body weight, trunk and visceral fat and cardiometabolic health risks.

Background: The enlargement of visceral fat (VF) in abdominal obesity is associated with increased cardiometabolic health risks in both adults and adolescents. A precise measurement of VF by sophisticated methods as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) cannot be applied in routine clinical practice. The aim of our study was to compare estimates on visceral and trunk fat in adolescents obtained by a new bioimpedance analysis instrument (BIA)--Tanita AB-140 ViScan--with those obtained by MRI, dual X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) and anthropometry., Methods and Results: Investigated cohort: 39 adolescent secondary school students; median (lower quartile; upper quartile)--age: 16.4 (15.4; 17.4) years; body weight: 63.8 (54.1; 79.0) kg; BMI: 21.4 (19.5; 27.4) kg/m2. Investigated parameters: BMI, body circumferences and sagittal abdominal diameter (SAD), trunk, visceral and subcutaneous fat determined by BIA, MRI and DEXA., Statistics: Spearman's correlations. The assessment of trunk fat by BIA correlated with DEXA estimates (r = 0.979, p < 0.0001) and with abdominal fat measured by MRI (r = 0.930, p < 0.0001). The visceral fat amount derived from abdominal BIA exhibited lower, however significant correlation with visceral fat determined by MRI (r = 0.791, p < 0.001). The visceral fat area presumed by abdominal BIA significantly correlated with anthropometric parameters as abdominal circumference (r = 0.923, p < 0.0001), waist circumference (r = 0.913, p < 0.0001) and SAD (r= 0.891, p < 0.0001)., Conclusions: The new method estimating abdominal fat by BIA represents a reliable tool for clinical evaluation of the trunk fat in adolescents. However, its advantages over anthropometric measurements in evaluation of VF require further validation studies.