ESPE Abstracts

Background: Metabolic syndrome (MS) is increasingly reported in obese children. So far, MS evaluations were performed for children at the age of 10 and over.

Objective and hypotheses: Our aim is to evaluate the prevalence of MS and insulin resistance (IR) in obese children between 3 and 9 years old according to modifying National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel-III (NCEP-III) and International Diabetes Federation (IDF) criteria.

Methods: Two hundred twenty-two obese children aged 3–9 were included. Blood pressure, waist circumference, fasting triglycerides (TG), HDL, insulin and blood glucose levels (FBG) were obtained. IR was defined with HOMA-IR. MS was defined by modification of NCEP-III and IDF criteria.

Results: IR was found 25%. MS prevalence was found 24% by NCEP-III, 18.7% by IDF criteria. According to NCEP-III criteria, rates were high FBG: 0.5%, high TG: 45.2%, and low HDL: 12.3%. According to IDF criteria, these rates were 5.8, 15.5, and 22.7% respectively. Systolic and diastolic hypertensions ratio was 17.2 and 22.4% respectively by both criteria. Considering to both of criteria, MS was 10%. Considering puberty, in prepubertal, IR was 22.7%. MS was 23.2 and 15.8% depending on NCEP-III, IDF criteria respectively. These rates were 34.1, 27.3, and 29.5%, respectively in puberty.

Conclusion: The early diagnosis of obesity and its complications are very important in term of treatment and prevention. It was found that one-fifth of obese children had IR and one of their four had MS in between 3 and 9. These high rates are quite alarming.