RESUMEN
The presence of childhood obesity predisposes to the development of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, such as coronary artery disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus, in adulthood. The polymorphisms described in PAI-1 gene have been linked with obesity and metabolic syndrome in several populations. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of the -844 G/A (rs2227631), -675 4G/5G (rs1799889) and HindIII C/G (rs757716)PAI-1 polymorphisms with obesity and dyslipidemia in a sample of Mexican children. A cross-sectional study was performed in 222 children with an age range between 6-11 years; 104 children were classified as obese and 118 children with normal-weight. The PAI-1 polymorphisms were analyzed by PCR-RFLP. Linkage disequilibrium (LD) and haplogenotype analysis among the three polymorphisms were determined. The results showed significant associations with obesity of the -844 G/A genotype and the A allele (OR= 2.75, p<0.001 and OR= 1.76, p=0.01, respectively). The -844 G/A polymorphism was found in LD with -675 4G/5G PAI-1 polymorphism (D'= 0.77). We found that G-4G-C/A-5G-G is a risk haplogenotype for obesity [OR=2.6; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.17-4.22; p= 0.01] and with marginal association with hypertriglyceridemia(OR= 2.6; 95% CI 1.04-6.35; p= 0.05). The G-4G-C/A-5G-G PAI-1 haplogenotype may be a genetic marker of susceptibility for obesity and hypertriglyceridemia in Mexican children.