Maintaining a healthy weight in teen years goes a long way in a person's future well-being. Obesity in adolescence is linked to the risk of developing early chronic kidney disease before the age of 30, a recent study has found.
Chronic kidney disease is a condition in which the kidneys are damaged and result in impaired functioning. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in seven adults in the U.S. suffer from the condition. It is one of the leading causes of death in the country.
Childhood obesity is a serious problem in the U.S., affecting around 22.2% of adolescents. A teenager is considered obese when the individual's body mass index is equal to or exceeds the 95th percentile of BMI specified for their age and sex. BMI is a measure of body fat based on height and weight.
In the latest study, researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Sheba Tel HaShomer Medical Center noted the importance of keeping the BMI of adolescents low to manage the risk of chronic kidney disease. The team observed that the risk of kidney disease is high even in those seemingly healthy teens with high-normal BMI. The results of the large cohort study were published in Jama Pediatrics.
"Severe obesity poses the highest risk, but even mild obesity and being overweight contribute significantly to this increased risk for both males and females," the researchers wrote in a news release.
The study was based on data from 593,660 Israeli adolescents between the ages of 16 and 20, who had medical assessments for mandatory military service. Of the total participants, 1,963 adolescents (0.3%) developed early chronic kidney disease after an average of 13.4 years.
The analysis showed that the risk of developing chronic kidney disease increased the most with severe obesity, followed by mild obesity and those with a high-normal BMI during adolescence, for both males and females.
"These findings are a harbinger of the potentially preventable, increasing likelihood of developing chronic kidney disease and subsequent cardiovascular disease," researchers wrote.
