Pediatric metabolic syndrome -- a group of risk factors in one person that includes obesity, insulin resistance, hypertension and other metabolic abnormalities -- is present in nearly half of all severely obese children and adolescents, and increases with worsening obesity, researchers at Yale report.
People with metabolic syndrome are at increased risk of coronary heart disease, other diseases related to plaque buildup in artery walls (such as strokes) and type 2 diabetes.
Published in the June 3 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, the study examined the relationship between the degree of obesity and metabolic syndrome in 439 obese, 31 overweight and 20 lean children and adolescents between the ages of four and 20. Researchers gave participants a standard glucose-tolerance test and measured blood pressure, plasma lipid, C-reactive protein and adiponectin levels. The research team further evaluated future cardiovascular risk in these participants.The study included participants from different racial backgrounds, including 41% white, 31% black and 28% Hispanic.
"We found that the metabolic syndrome is highly prevalent among obese children and adolescents, reaching nearly 50% in severely obese youth," said the study's first author, Dr. Ram Weiss, clinical fellow in pediatrics at the School of Medicine. "We also found that worsening body mass index and insulin resistance, independently, increase the risk for the metabolic syndrome in obese youth. The main issue is that every amount of weight gain increases risk for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in these young people."
The study was funded by a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to the study's principal investigator, Dr. Sonia Caprio.
Other Yale authors on the study included James Dziura, Dr. Tania S. Burgert, Dr. William V. Tamborlane, Sara E. Taksali, Catherine W. Yeckel, Karin Allen, Melinda Lopes, Mary Savoye and Dr. Robert S. Sherwin. The team also included Dr. John Morrison of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
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