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Obesity: The Rule or Not

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Klinefelter’s Syndrome

Part of the book series: Trends in Andrology and Sexual Medicine ((TASM))

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Abstract

Whether overweight and obesity should be included in the clinical phenotype of subjects with Klinefelter syndrome is still an open issue. In the present review, we presented and discussed available data on the topic. PubMed and Google Scholar were searched on November 2019. Obesity was defined as a body mass index ≥95th percentile for the same age and sex in children/teens and ≥30 kg/m2 in adults; studies reporting data dichotomously were included. A limited number of papers were found, with heterogeneous findings. According to unpublished data in adult and pediatric subjects here reported, the prevalence of obesity in subjects with Klinefelter syndrome at presentation was not higher compared to the general population. These data do not support the view that obesity is a common phenotype in subjects with Klinefelter syndrome or that this genetic disorder should be considered as a secondary cause of obesity. However, the reliability of using body mass index in these subjects may be limited, therefore further epidemiological studies are needed.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Prof. Shanlee M. Davis (Colorado) for sharing the requested data.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Population Health Unit, National Institute of Gastroenterology “S. de Bellis”, Research Hospital, Castellana Grotte, Italy

    Marco Castellana & Filippo Procino

  2. Department of Endocrinology and Internal Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark

    Simon Chang

  3. Department of Internal Medicine, Lillebaelt Hospital, Kolding, Denmark

    Simon Chang

  4. Department of Biomedical Science and Human Oncology, University of Bari, Bari, Italy

    Giovanni De Pergola

  5. Section of Internal Medicine, Geriatrics, Endocrinology and Rare Diseases, Interdisciplinary Department of Medicine, University of Bari, School of Medicine, Bari, Italy

    Vincenzo Triggiani & Vito Angelo Giagulli

  6. Outpatients Clinic of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases, Conversano Hospital, Bari, Italy

    Vito Angelo Giagulli

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  1. Marco Castellana
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Unit of Andrology and Reproductive Medicine, University of Padua, Padua, Italy

    Andrea Garolla

  2. Endocrinology Unit, Ospedale Maggiore, Bologna, Italy

    Giovanni Corona

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Castellana, M., Chang, S., Procino, F., De Pergola, G., Triggiani, V., Giagulli, V.A. (2020). Obesity: The Rule or Not. In: Garolla, A., Corona, G. (eds) Klinefelter’s Syndrome. Trends in Andrology and Sexual Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51410-5_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51410-5_17

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