[Association of abnormal metabolic indices and its clustering with carotid intima-media thickness in childhood].

Objective To examine the association of abnormal metabolic indexes and its clustering with carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) in childhood. Methods A convenient sampling method was used to conduct a cross-sectional survey from November 2017 to January 2018 in a primary school in Huantai County, Zibo City, Shandong Province. A total of 1 240 children who had complete data of questionnaires, physical examinations, and blood biochemical tests were included for analysis. Covariance analysis was used to analyze the association of the single abnormal metabolic indices and its clustering with cIMT. The multivariable linear regression model was used to quantify the relationship between the number of abnormal metabolic indices and cIMT. Results The age of 1 240 children was (8.9±1.5) years, and 657 boys accounted for 53.0%. The highest detection rate of abnormal metabolic indicators was found in abdominal obesity, accounting for 30.9% (203/657) of boys and 29.7% (173/583) girls respectively.The cIMT of boys and girls were (0.49±0.08) and (0.45±0.07) mm, respectively. After adjusting for sex, age, consumption of fruits, vegetables and carbonated drinks, sleep duration, screen time and physical activity, abdominal obesity, elevated blood pressure, total triglyceride and fasting glucose were associated with cIMT (all P values <0.001). Children with 0, 1, 2 and ≥3 abnormal metabolic indicators had cIMT values of (0.45±0.07), (0.48±0.08), (0.50±0.09) and (0.53±0.08) mm, respectively. That was, cIMT values increased with the number of abnormal metabolic indexes (Ptrend<0.001). Conclusion Abdominal obesity, elevated blood pressure, total triglyceride, fasting glucose and clustering of the above factors are associated with cIMT. Key words: Child; Nutritional and metabolic diseases; Cross-sectional studies; Carotid intima-media thickness