To our knowledge, this is the first study to correlate plasma MMP-9 and TIMP-1 levelsto common and internal IMT in obese and non-obese children and adolescents.Following an evaluation of matrix metalloproteinases in obese and non-obese childrenand adolescents, Glowińska-Olszewska et al.12 reported high concentrations of the atherosclerosis markerMMP-9 in the obese group and even higher concentrations in hypertensive obeseindividuals. Here, MMP9 is linked to atherosclerosis.