Clinical Profile of Young Obese Individuals and Its Correlation with Fasting Blood Sugar and Fasting Lipid Profile
Authors: Karuppusamy Jayanthi , Sivakumaar Thirumurugan , Palanivel Jambulingam 
Published: September 2024

Introduction: Obesity can alter lipid and carbohydrate metabolism. Dyslipidemia (DLP), type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and impaired fasting glucose (IFG) have been recognised as a common complication of obesity. Obesity can also lead to other non-metabolic complications. There is an epidemic rise in obesity in the country. A disease practicallyunheard of a few years back is now considered to affect even the younger age group. Obesity and its complications can lead to various cardiovascular diseases making early detection and prevention important.
Objectives

To study the clinical profile of young obese (Age group of 18-40 years of male and females) individuals in Sri Ramakrishna Hospital, Coimbatore.
To study the fasting blood sugar and fasting lipid profile in these subjects.
To correlate clinical profile with fasting blood sugar and fasting lipid profile.

Materials and Methods: The study will be a descriptive correlative study on young obese inpatients and outpatients in Sri Ramakrishna Hospital. The study will include a minimum of 150 subjects from the general population. A detailed questionnaire will be administered to all study subjects to collect information regarding demographic, socioeconomic, behavioural, and health status. The fasting blood sugar (FBS) of all subjects will be estimated to diagnose diabetes mellitus and impaired fasting glucose. Fasting lipid profile (FLP) of all the subjects will be done to note lipid profile abnormalities. Results will then be analyzed and correlated.
Results: A total of 150 cases of young obese subjects were included in the study, evaluated for fasting blood sugar and fasting lipid profile, and clinically correlated. Obesity among young individuals was found to be more common among males (62%) and during the fourth decade (53.3%). There is a significant association between gender and BMI in the present study.
In the study, most cases (38.67%) were in the BMI group of 25-30 kg/m² with the occurrence of IFG (54%) being more than DM in this group. T2DM and IFG are statistically significant to BMI. In this study, 82% of cases with DLP were present in obese patients. The BMI is highly significant to the DLP where the p-value is <0.01. The incidence of dyslipidemia was also highest (57.33%) in the BMI group (25-30 kg/m²).
Conclusion: The present study showed that there exists a relationship between the presence of altered fasting blood sugar in the form of impaired fasting glucose and type 2 diabetes mellitus in young obese individuals. Thus from this study, we conclude that there is a statistically significant relationship between young obesity and diabetes. There was a direct proportional relationship between dyslipidemia and degree of obesity. Cutaneous manifestations of obesity and lifestyle have a significant correlation with the occurrence of complications of obesity. In the current period, young obesity should be considered an important risk factor for non-communicable diseases and should be treated at the earliest to prevent such complications.
Keywords: Obesity, Morbidity, Diabetes Mellitus, Fasting Blood Glucose, Psychological Factors, Alcohol Consumption.