Effect of obesity on cardiovascular autonomic functions in school children Dr Sharma Madhuri1, Dr Kacker Sudhanshu2, Dr mathur K.C3, Dr sharma Vishnu4 1Tutor, Department of Physiology, Rajasthan University of Health Sciences, Jaipur 2Professor and Head, Department of Physiology, Rajasthan University of Health Sciences, Jaipur 3Retd. Professor, Department of Physiology, S P Medical College, Bikaner 4Medical Officer, Department of Physiology, S P Medical College, Bikaner Online published on 17 February, 2017. Abstract Obesity is a disorder with a multifactorial etiology resulting from a complex interaction between the environment, behaviour and genetic susceptibility. It is conceivable that one or more sub groups of obesity have an alteration in their autonomic nervous system that may promote obesity and account for several clinical consequences of obesity. In this study we performed AFT on obese and non obese children. The result of our study shows reduced E: I (Expiration: Inspiration) ratio in obese children as compared to the normal children p= 0.0485 in boys and p= 0.0009 in girls. Our study also indicates higher baseline diastolic blood pressure and systolic blood pressure prior to isometric handgrip exercise and blood pressure response on lying to standing in obese group children which shows the reduced sympathetic activity in obese children (p= 0.0001 for both orthostatic hypotension test and hand grip test in boys and girls.). The prevalence of obesity from our study comes 17.3% in Bikaner district. Aims and Objective Comparative study is done to investigate the cardiovascular autonomic function test in obese school children. Result Our study shows reduced parasympathetic activity (E: I ratio) and reduced sympathetic activity (orthostatic hypotension and hand grip test) of obese children. Conclusion If the autonomic nervous system dysfunction is diagnosed early by doing autonomic function test, it may prove an important aid in identification of those prone to weight gain and are at higher risk of cardio vascular complication resulting for autonomic dysfunction Top |