ArticleThe Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism2021
Hepatic Fat in Early Childhood Is Independently Associated With Estimated Insulin Resistance: The Healthy Start Study.
Article in The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Adipose Depot Changes and Associated Metabolic Risk in the Longitudinal Health Influences of Puberty Study.Pediatric obesity · 2026Trial
- Differences in Fat Depots, Cardiometabolic Risk Factors, and Insulin Resistance Between Active and Passive School Commuters.Pediatric obesity · 2026Article
- Comparative effects of exercise modalities on ectopic fat reduction in overweight and obese children and adolescents: a narrative review.European journal of pediatrics · 2026Review
- Specific Fat Depots and Cardiometabolic Risk and Insulin Resistance in Children With Obesity.Pediatric obesity · 2026Article
- Liver Fat Is Associated With Elevated FGF21 in Youth With Obesity but Without MASLD.Pediatric obesity · 2026Article
- Heterogeneity of Gestational Diabetes and Risk for Adverse Pregnancy Outcome: A Cohort Study.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2025Article
- Associations of infant feeding practices with abdominal and hepatic fat measures in childhood in the longitudinal Healthy Start Study.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2024Article
- Gender differences in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in obese children and adolescents: a large cross-sectional study.Hepatology international · 2024Article
- The relative contributions of soft tissue mass components as risk or protective factors of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in children.European journal of clinical nutrition · 2023Article
- Maternal Diet Quality During Pregnancy and Offspring Hepatic Fat in Early Childhood: The Healthy Start Study.The Journal of nutrition · 2023Article
- Alterations in DNA methylation associate with fatty liver and metabolic abnormalities in a multi-ethnic cohort of pre-teenage children.Epigenetics · 2022Article
- Body composition trajectories from birth to 5 years and hepatic fat in early childhood.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2022Observational
- Exposure to maternal fuels during pregnancy and offspring hepatic fat in early childhood: The healthy start study.Pediatric obesity · 2022Article
- Hepatic Fat in Early Childhood Is Independently Associated With Estimated Insulin Resistance: The Healthy Start Study.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundFatty liver disease is a common metabolic abnormality in adolescents with obesity but remains understudied in early childhood.
objectivesTo describe hepatic fat deposition in prepubertal children and examine cross-sectional associations with metabolic markers and body composition.
methodsData were from 286 children ages 4 to 8 years old in the Healthy Start Study, a longitudinal prebirth cohort in Colorado (USA). Assessments included magnetic resonance imaging to quantify hepatic and abdominal fats, fasting blood draws to measure metabolic markers, and air displacement plethysmography to measure body composition (fat mass and fat-free mass).
resultsThe median (interquartile range) for hepatic fat was 1.65% (1.24%, 2.11%). Log-transformed hepatic fat was higher in Hispanic [mean (95% CI): 0.63 (0.52, 0.74)] vs non-Hispanic white children [0.46 (0.38, 0.53), P = 0.01] and children with overweight/obesity [0.64 (0.49, 0.79)] vs normal-weight [0.47 (0.40, 0.53), P = 0.02]. Higher log-hepatic fat was associated with higher insulin [β (95% CI): 1.47 (0.61, 2.33) uIU/mL, P = 0.001] and estimated insulin resistance (homeostatic model assessment) [0.40 (0.20, 0.60), P < 0.001] in the full sample and glucose [5.53 (2.84, 8.21) mg/dL, P < 0.001] and triglycerides [10.92 (2.92,18.91) mg/dL, P = 0.008] in boys, in linear regression models adjusted for sociodemographics, maternal/perinatal confounders, and percentage body fat. Log-hepatic fat was also associated with abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue [SAT; 7.37 (1.12,13.60) mm2, P = 0.02] in unadjusted models, but this was attenuated and insignificant after adjusting for confounders.
conclusionsWhile hepatic fat was low in children 4 to 8 years old, it was independently associated with estimated insulin resistance and exhibited sex-specific associations with glucose and triglycerides, suggesting hepatic fat may be an early indicator of metabolic dysfunction in youth.
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