Original Article

Evaluation of somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) in obese children

10.26657/Gulhane.00008

  • Onur Akın
  • Bülent Ünay
  • Mutluay Arslan
  • Semir Mazman
  • Emre Taşçılar
  • İbrahim Eker

Received Date: 27.12.2017 Accepted Date: 03.01.2018 Gulhane Med J 2018;60(1):5-8

Aims:

This study aimed to investigate the somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) in obese children.

Methods:

A total of 62 children with obesity and 33 healthy children, as the control group, were enrolled in the study. Insulin resistance (IR) and other metabolic disturbances were investigated in all participants and obese children were divided into subgroups according IR presence. SEPs and other parameters were compared between subgroups.

Results:

Blood glucose, plasma insulin levels, and HOMA-IR were significantly higher in the IR+ Group. There was no significant difference between IR+ and IR- groups regarding other metabolic and anthropometric variables. There was no difference between IR+, IR-, and control groups in terms of SEPs. A significant correlation was found between N22 latency and HOMA-IR, and plasma insulin levels.

Conclusions:

Although there is a partial relationship between SEPs and IR, SEPs measurement my not be an appropriate screening test for determining neuropathies in patients who don’t have severe metabolic disturbance.

Keywords: Children, insulin resistance, obesity, somatosensory evoked potentials