Aim: To determine the early effects of excess weight on renal cortical stiffness in children and adolescents using point shear wave elastography (pSWE).
Materials and methods: One hundred and forty-six overweight and obese children (43.2% male; mean age, 12.6±2.9 years: range 4.3-18) and 48 lean children (27.1% male: mean age, 12.4±3.4: range 4.8-18.9) were included in the study and control group, respectively. pSWE measurements of the two kidneys were performed. The mean value of shear wave velocity was compared between groups.
Results: The mean shear wave velocity was 2.79±0.53 m/s for the control subjects and 3.09±0.59 m/s for the overweight-obese subjects. The differences between the two groups were sta-tistically significant (p=0.001). There was no correlation between shear wave velocity and age or depth. A positive correlation was found between shear wave velocity and body mass index, body mass index-standard deviation score.
Conclusion: Renal cortical stiffness was higher in children with excess weight than in lean children. This study is the first attempt at applying pSWE to investigate the early adverse effects of excess weight.