Journal Article

Corneal nerve loss in adolescents with obesity and acanthosis nigricans

Pasha, Maheen, Jolkka, Sari, Biglang-awa, Roshirl, Chirayath, Shiga, Cuatrona, Erlinda, Ponirakis, Georgios, Inso, Gina, Petropoulos, Ioannis N., AlNassr, Noor, Al-Hashimi, Yasmeen, Malik, Rayaz A., Mohamadsalih, Ghassan, Razon, Gerald, Wahbeh, Farah, Elgassim, Einas, Sajjadi, Fatima, Gad, Hoda, Hendaus, Mohamed A., Hussain, Khalid, Haris, Basma, Dauleh, Hajar, Amin, Rasha

2024

Overview

Obesity and related metabolic abnormalities in adults are associated with peripheral neuropathy. Acanthosis nigricans (AN) is associated with insulin resistance, fatty liver, hyperlipidemia and glucose intolerance, all of which are risk factors for neuropathy. The aim of this study was to investigate if obese adolescents with AN have evidence of small nerve fiber damage. Adolescents with obesity with and without AN underwent body composition analysis, assessment of vibration perception threshold (VPT), monofilament sensitivity and corneal confocal microscopy (CCM) to quantify corneal nerve fiber density (CNFD), branch density (CNBD), length (CNFL) and inferior whorl length (IWL). Forty-six participants with obesity with (n = 31) and without (n = 15) AN aged 15(14-17) years were compared to 20 healthy controls aged 13(12-14) years. There was no difference in VPT, monofilament sensitivity and CCM measures between adolescents with obesity and controls. However, adolescents with AN had a significantly higher weight (P = 0.022), fat% (P = 0.029) and fat-muscle ratio (P = 0.012) with a lower CNFD (P = 0.045) compared to those with obesity without AN. Adolescents with obesity and acanthosis nigricans have a higher fat mass and small nerve fibre loss, indicative of a sub-clinical neuropathy.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science
• Subject: Abnormalities / Acanthosis nigricans / Acanthosis Nigricans - complications / Acanthosis Nigricans - pathology / Adolescent / Adolescents / Biology and Life Sciences / Body composition / Body fat / Body mass index / Case-Control Studies / Child / Cholesterol / Complications and side effects / Confocal microscopy / Cornea / Cornea - innervation / Cornea - pathology / Corneal diseases / Damage assessment / Density / Dextrose / Diabetes / Diagnosis / Electronic health records / Fatty liver / Female / Gastrointestinal surgery / Glucose / Glucose tolerance / Health aspects / High density lipoprotein / Humans / Hyperlipidemia / Insulin resistance / Liver / Liver diseases / Male / Medical records / Medicine and Health Sciences / Metabolic syndrome / Microscopy / Nerve Fibers - pathology / Nerves / Obesity / Obesity - complications / Obesity - pathology / Obesity - physiopathology / Obesity in adolescence / Pediatrics / People and Places / Peripheral neuropathy / Physiological aspects / Risk factors / Sensitivity analysis / Systemic diseases / Teenagers / Triglycerides / Type 2 diabetes / Vibration analysis / Vibration perception / Youth