New Markers of Early Kidney Damage in Children and Adolescents with Simple Obesity

The impact of obesity on kidney injury and the development of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is well documented. Unfortunately, the early stages of CKD are asymptomatic, leading to a delayed diagnosis and a worse prognosis. There is a need for more sensitive indicators of kidney damage than those currently used. We aimed to assess the usefulness of serum t-CAF, urinary netrin-1, α-GST, π-GST, calbindin, and calprotectin as biomarkers of early kidney damage in obese children and to investigate the relationship between these indicators and the degree of obesity. A total of 125 simple obese, normoalbuminuric children and 33 non-obese children as controls were selected. Patients were divided into 2 subgroups according to SDS BMI (I: 2 ≤ 4, II: >4). Serum t-CAF was significantly higher in the obese group compared to the controls, as were urinary α-GST, netrin-1, π-GST, and calprotectin. No difference was found between the two obese groups. In normoalbuminuric obese children and adolescents without significant metabolic disorders, serum t-CAF may be a new biomarker for the early detection of renal dysfunction, and urinary netrin-1, α-GST, π-GST, and calprotectin may be better indicators for the detection of early tubular damage, independent of the severity of obesity.