FUNCTIONAL ACTIVITY OF NEUTROPHILS AND SUBPOPULATION COMPOSITION OF LYMPHOCYTES IN LEFT VENTRICULAR HYPERTROPHY IN OBESE ADOLESCENTS

Currently, the problem of obesity has become one of the most significant and global medical and social challenges of modern society. Obesity is associated with a chronic non-infectious inflammatory process known as metabolic inflammation. Obesity in children is associated with structural and functional abnormalities in the heart, particularly left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), which is closely linked to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in adults. The pathogenesis of obesity-related LHF is based on both increased myocardial metabolic activity due to excess adipose tissue, resulting in increased cardiac output, and arterial hypertension. The relationship between metabolic inflammation caused by obesity and the severity of structural and functional changes in the myocardium in obese adolescents is not well understood. The aim of the work is to determine the functional activity of neutrophils and the features of the subpopulation composition of lymphocytes in hypertrophy of the left ventricular myocardium in adolescents with obesity. The study included 42 adolescents aged 10 to 17 years with a diagnosis of obesity. All patients had venous blood taken for the study of phagocytic activity of neutrophils and indicators of intracellular oxygen-dependent metabolism of neutrophils, as well as quantitative assessment of lymphocytes and their subpopulations. To determine the presence of LVH, all patients underwent echocardiography, and based on the results, obese patients were divided into two groups: Group I consisted of 28 patients without LVH, and Group II consisted of 14 patients with LVH. Statistical analysis of the obtained data was carried out using IBM SPSS Statistics (version 24) applied statistical packages. Measurement data were presented as the median and interquartile range (Me [Q25-Q75]) using the Mann-Whitney U-test for comparing two independent samples. Qualitative data were presented as percentages, and the Pearson's χ2 test was used for comparison. Values of p<0,05 were considered statistically significant. The study showed that left ventricular hypertrophy in obese adolescents is associated with more severe metabolic inflammation, resulting in depletion of neutrophil metabolic activity, lower levels of T-lymphocytes with late activation markers (CD3+HLA-DR+), and higher levels of T-helper cells involved in the development of hypertension, accompanied by a decrease in T-cytotoxic cells.