سامانه کنگره های دانشگاه علوم پزشکی و خدمات بهداشتی و درمانی آذربایجان غربی

صفحه اصلی / بیستمین همایش سالیانه بیماری های شایع گوارش و کبد کودکان ایران و دومین همایش بین المللی چاقی کودکان

Association Between Obesity and Fecal Calprotectin Levels in Pediatric Patients with Crohn’s Disease

نویسندگان :

Golnaz Khodayari¹ Nastaran Vakilbashi² Kiyanoush Jafari³ Faezeh Ghalichi⁴

1- دانشکده علوم پزشکی مراغه 2- دانشگاه علوم پزشکی شهید بهشتی 3- دانشکده علوم پزشکی مراغه 4- دانشکده علوم پزشکی مراغه

کلمات کلیدی :

fecal calprotectin،Crohn’s disease،pediatric obesity،intestinal inflammation،BMI z-score،PCDAI

چکیده :

Background and Aim: Pediatric Crohn’s disease (CD) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disorder often associated with malnutrition and weight loss. However, with the increasing prevalence of childhood obesity, a subset of pediatric CD patients now present with overweight or obesity. Obesity is known to exert pro-inflammatory effects systemically, but its influence on intestinal inflammation, as measured by fecal calprotectin (FC), remains unclear. This study aims to evaluate whether obesity in children with Crohn’s disease is associated with altered levels of fecal calprotectin, potentially indicating differences in mucosal inflammation. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional studys, pediatric patients aged 6–17 years with a confirmed diagnosis of Crohn’s disease were enrolled from a tertiary gastroenterology clinic. Participants were categorized based on BMI z-scores into normal weight (5th–85th percentile) and overweight/obese (>85th percentile) groups. Fecal samples were collected to quantify calprotectin levels using ELISA. Clinical disease activity was assessed using the Pediatric Crohn’s Disease Activity Index (PCDAI). Multivariable regression analyses were performed to examine the association between BMI category and fecal calprotectin, adjusting for disease duration, medication use, and PCDAI score. Results: Preliminary findings showed that obese/overweight children with CD had significantly lower mean fecal calprotectin levels (p = 0.03) compared to their normal-weight counterparts, despite similar PCDAI scores. This suggests a possible attenuation or modulation of local intestinal inflammation in the context of systemic adiposity. However, further subgroup analysis revealed heterogeneity based on medication type, particularly corticosteroid use. Conclusions: Obesity may be associated with lower fecal calprotectin levels in children with Crohn’s disease, potentially masking mucosal inflammation. These findings raise important clinical considerations in interpreting fecal calprotectin values in obese pediatric CD patients and highlight the need for adjusted diagnostic thresholds in this population.