Abstract:

Objective To investigate the incidence of metabolic syndrome among obese children in clinics. Methods One hundred and thirteen obese children aged 7 to 14 years were selected from clinics of nutrition (case group), and another 366 healthy students aged 7 to 14 years were served as controls. Height, body weight, waist circumference, hip circumference, blood pressure and liver ultrasound were measured, related biochemical parameters such as fasting blood glucose, fasting insulin, serum total cholesterol, triglyceride (TG), high density lipoprotein and low density lipoprotein were detected, and the incidences of metabolic syndrome were obtained in two groups. Insulin resistance (IR) was evaluated by homeostasis model assessment (HOMA). Results There was no significant difference in age and gender between case group and control group (P>0.05). Body weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, hip circumference, waist to hip ratio, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, fasting insulin, HOMA index and TG in case group were significantly higher than those in control group (P<0.01). The 75th percentile of HOMA index in control group was 3.28, and IR subgroup and non-IR subgroup were divided according to this cutpoint. In case group, body weight, BMI, waist circumference and TG in non-IR subgroup were significantly higher than those in IR subgroup （P<0.05）. Metabolic syndrome occurred in 51 cases (45.1%) in case group. The incidence of metabolic syndrome was higher in IR subgroup than that in non-IR group (50.0% vs 21.1%) (P<0.05). Conclusion The prevalence of metabolic syndrome is higher in overweight and obese children. IR has a close relationship with metabolic syndrome.

Key words: obesity, children, insulin resistance, HOMA index, metabolic syndrome