Iran J Pediatr. 2020 February; 30(1):e96605. Published online 2020 February 4. doi: 10.5812/ijp.96605. Research Article Relationship Between Body Mass Index, Fatty Liver, Lipids Profile, Carotid Intima-Media Thickness and Subcutaneous and Visceral Fat Determined by Ultrasound Neda Pak 1, 2, * , Bahar Allahverdi 2, 3, ** , Sare Moslemi 1 , Parastoo Rostami 2, 3 , Fatemeh Sayarifard 2, 3 , Mehrzad Mehdizadeh 1, 2 , Fatemeh Zamani 1, 2 and Azadeh Sayarifard 4 1 Department of Radiology, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 2 Children’s Medical Center, Pediatrics Center of Excellence, Tehran, Iran 3 Department of Pediatrics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 4 Growth and Development Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran * Corresponding author: Children’s Medical Center, Pediatrics Center of Excellence, Tehran, Iran. Email: pakneda@yahoo.com ** Corresponding author: Children’s Medical Center, Pediatrics Center of Excellence, Tehran, Iran. Email: bahar_allahverdi@yahoo.com Received 2019 July 24; Revised 2019 November 13; Accepted 2019 December 05. Abstract Background: Childhood obesity is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver. Early diagnosis of obesity complications in children can be helpful for more effective treatment. Objectives: The present study aimed to evaluate the relationship of body mass index (BMI), fatty liver, lipids profile, carotid arteries intima-media thickness and thickness of subcutaneous visceral fat by using the ultrasound. Methods: Sixty one obese children (BMI > 95th) were enrolled in the study. The ultrasound was performed to evaluate the presence and degree of fatty liver in all cases and also for measuring the subcutaneous tissue which was measured in the middle regions of the abdomen and the right flank and visceral fat thickness along with carotid arteries intima-media thickness. The lipids profile (TG, Chol, LDL, HDL) was measured after 12-hour fasting in all cases. Results: A significant increase in the degree of fatty liver was observed with increasing subcutaneous and visceral fat thickness (P < 0.001), but these correlations were not considerable for carotid arteries intima-media thickness. A linear relationship with a positive trend was seen between the BMI and degree of liver steatosis. The visceral fat thickness showed a significant correlation with lipids profile. Conclusions: The present study revealed significant relationships between thickness of visceral and subcutaneous fat, grade of fatty liver, and lipids profile in children. Keywords: Obesity, Fatty liver, Subcutaneous Fat, Pediatrics, Intra-Abdominal Fat, Intima-Media Thickness 1. Background The prevalence of obesity is rising in children. The main complications of obesity include metabolic, respi- ratory, and cardiac involvement. Currently, the obesity is widely discussed as one of the most important issues in the public health worldwide. Childhood obesity is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver, and a chronic problem endanger- ing the children health (1-3). Therefore, many public health systems have been motivated to study the obesity espe- cially during the childhood in recent years. However, some methods, which directly measure the amount of body fat, are not routine ways in children. Obesity is usually evalu- ated by indirect estimation of body fat including the an- thropometrics approach (2) and body mass index (BMI) in patients aged more than two years, and the measurement of regional fat distribution according to the waist-to-hip ratio (3-7). On the other hand, recent studies have indi- cated that the prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver dis- ease (NAFLD) may be much higher than before (8). NAFLD is currently as the most common chronic liver disease in adults and children worldwide (9-13). Ultrasonography, CT scan, and MRI are noninvasive methods for diagnosing fatty liver disease and measuring the visceral and subcuta- neous fat. Because of the availability, low price, and lack of ionizing radiation, the ultrasound is preferable imag- ing method especially for children. It is argued that the serum level of liver enzymes and lipids profile are merely Copyright © 2020, Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits copy and redistribute the material just in noncommercial usages, provided the original work is properly cited.