Abstract: The aim of present study is to investigate the mechanism of simple obesity in childhood from the neuropsychology and neuroendocrinology points of view. The child behavior checklist(CBCL)and plasma concentrations of several hormones were measured in 65 children with simple obesity, whose body weight was more than 20% heavier than standard weight. 55 healthy children were taken as normal control in the study. The results showed that obese children had behavior deficit manifested by lower ability of social communication(P<0.05)and difficulty of behavioral problem(P<0.001). Abnormality of endocrine metabolism was found in obese children, showing an increase of plasma level of insulin and a decrease of growth hormone and prolactin. Their behavioral deficit and endocrine changes were related to sex and the degree of obesity. The behavioral problem in obese children was correlated to their endocrine metabolism with r=0.477(P<0.05). The correlation mainly existed between social communication and epinephrine or prolactin. The results demonstrate that children with simple obesity have, to various extent, neuropsychological deficit and abnormal endocrine metabolism.

Key words: child, obesity, behavior, endocrine