Clinical characteristics of obese Japanese children with acanthosis nigricans

Abstract

Acanthosis nigricans (AN) is a skin lesion characterized by thickening and obvious darkening of the keratin layer of the skin. It has been demonstrated to be associated with hyperinsulinemia, and is used as an empirical marker for elevated risk of type 2 diabetes. The prevalence of school children with simple obesity in Japan has recently increased to over 10%. We investigated the clinical characteristics of AN-positive and AN-negative subjects, and compared 105 obese children (64 males and 41 females) with regard to sex, percentage overweight, age distribution, duration of obesity, standard deviation score (SDS) of height, liver function, birth weight, and family history of diabetes mellitus. Forty-one (27 males, 14 females) (39.0%) of the 105 subjects had AN on the neck and/or in the axilla. There was a significant difference between the AN-positive and AN-negative groups in age (p<0.05), percentage overweight (p <0.0005), duration of obesity (p<0.03), and serum ALT level as a marker of fatty liver (p<0.01). The prevalence of AN was significantly higher in older subjects (≥8 years) and in subjects with higher levels of percentage overweight (≥50%). There was no significant difference in birth weight or family history of diabetes mellitus between the AN-positive and AN-negative groups. It is a very important to determine the frequency with which AN-positive obese subjects develop overt diabetes later in life. Copyright© 2001 by The Japanese Society for Pediatric Endocrinology.