Valenzise M, D'Amico F, Cucinotta U, Lugarà C, Zirilli G, Zema A, Wasniewska M, Pajno G B
Department of Human Pathology of Adulthood and Childhood, University of Messina, Messina, Italy.
Ital J Pediatr. 2021 Oct 18;47(1):209. doi: 10.1186/s13052-021-01142-0.
The social consequences of COVID-19 pandemic are universally known. In particular, the pediatric population is dealing with a radical lifestyle change. For some risk categories, such as overweight or obese children, the impact of home confinement has been greater than for others. The increased sedentary life, the wrong diet and social distancing have stopped the chance of losing weight. The aims of this study were to analyse the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on the behavior changes in a obese pediatric population and to explore the correlation between the new lifestyle and the level of parental instruction.
Data show features of 40 obese and overweight pediatric patients of our Clinic in Messina (Italy). We evaluated weight, height, BMI and other biochemical parameters: total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, triglyceride, transaminases, glycemia and insulinemia. After the lockdown, we contacted all patients in order to get some information about diet, physical activity and sedentary lifestyle changes in correlation to the level of their parents' instruction. Additionally, we also evaluated 20 children twice from a clinical and laboratory perspective.
The study showed an increase of daily meals during COVID-19 lockdown (3.2 ± 0.4 vs 5 ± 1, P < 0.001). In particular, children whose parents have primary school diploma ate a greater significant number of meals during the lockdown, compared to those who have parents with secondary school diploma (P = 0.0019). In addition, the 95% of patients did low physical activity during the lockdown and the 97.5% spent more time in sedentary activity. Even if BMI's values don't show significant differences, they have increased after the lockdown. We didn't find any correlation between biochemical parameters before and after the lockdown.
The lockdown has had bad consequences on good style of life's maintenance in overweight and obese children. The absence of a significant correlation between the worsening of biochemical parameters and the lockdown doesn't allow to exclude any long-term consequences. It's safe to assume that, if the hours spent in sedentary activity and the number of meals don't diminish, there will probably repercussion on the biochemical parameters.
新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情的社会影响众所周知。尤其是儿童群体正在应对生活方式的彻底改变。对于一些风险类别，如超重或肥胖儿童，居家隔离的影响比其他儿童更大。久坐生活增加、错误饮食和社交距离使得减肥机会减少。本研究的目的是分析新型冠状病毒肺炎封锁对肥胖儿童群体行为变化的影响，并探讨新的生活方式与家长指导水平之间的相关性。
数据显示了我们在墨西拿（意大利）诊所的40名肥胖和超重儿科患者的特征。我们评估了体重、身高、体重指数和其他生化参数：总胆固醇、高密度脂蛋白、低密度脂蛋白、甘油三酯、转氨酶、血糖和胰岛素血症。封锁结束后，我们联系了所有患者，以获取一些关于饮食、身体活动和久坐生活方式变化与家长指导水平相关性的信息。此外，我们还从临床和实验室角度对20名儿童进行了两次评估。
研究表明，在新型冠状病毒肺炎封锁期间，每日进餐次数增加（3.2±0.4次对5±1次，P<0.001）。特别是，父母拥有小学文凭的儿童在封锁期间进餐次数显著多于父母拥有中学文凭的儿童（P=0.0019）。此外，95%的患者在封锁期间身体活动量低，97.5%的患者久坐时间增加。即使体重指数的值没有显示出显著差异，但在封锁后有所增加。我们没有发现封锁前后生化参数之间存在任何相关性。
封锁对超重和肥胖儿童维持良好生活方式产生了不良后果。生化参数恶化与封锁之间缺乏显著相关性，这并不能排除任何长期后果。可以肯定地说，如果久坐时间和进餐次数不减少，可能会对生化参数产生影响。
