Insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome in children with obesity

【Objective】 To observe the rates of occurrence of insulin resistance(IR) and metabolic syndrome(MS) and the association between IR and MS in a group of Chinese obese children. 【Methods】 Oral glucose tolerance test(OGTT) was done and serum insulin was measured in 76 children(49 males and 27 females) with obesity aged between 3 and 14 years old.Fasting blood sample was also obtained to measure total cholesterol,triglycerides,HDL-C,LDL-C,uric acid,liver function and androgen in serum. 【Results】 In the 76 obese children,68.4% of them had IR,27.6% had impaired glucose tolerance or type II diabetes,61.8% had dyslipidemia,14.5% had hypertension,28.9% had hyperuricemia,26.3% had increased ALT.Hyperandrogenism was found in 6 out of the 27 female children.32.9% met the criteria of MS.The rates of impaired glucose tolerance,dyslipidemia and MS were 34.6%,73.1% and 44.2%,respectively,in children with IR,which were significantly higher than those without IR(P 0.05 or 0.01,respectively).Out of the 20 cases with delayed or absent insulin responsive peak,13 of them had impaired glucose tolerance and one was diagnosed with Type II diabetes. 【Conclusions】 Insulin resistance and MS are very common in children with obesity.The occurrence of MS is strongly and positively related to IR.