ISSN: 2578-4641
Authors: Tskhvedadze N, Giorgadze E, Janjgava S, Tananashvili D, Nandoshvili E and Hyer S*
Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of individual features of the metabolic syndrome in children and adolescents with obesity referred to a central hospital unit. Methods: We studied children and adolescents referred to our Paediatric Endocrine Unit for evaluation of their weight. Subjects were included if body mass index (BMI) exceeded the 85th centile for age and sex and excluded if diabetes was known to be present. We assessed blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, lipid profiles, leptin, plasma c-peptide, and insulin resistance using homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). Results: From a study population of 115 children and adolescents, obesity was present in 90 (76.9%); the remainder being classified as overweight (23.1%). Dyslipidaemia was present in 51%, hypertension in 22% and impaired glucose tolerance or insulin resistance in 70%. Metabolic syndrome was found in 40% of the study group, classified by modified WHO or ATPIII criteria. The number of features of the metabolic syndrome correlated with BMI percentile (r=0.61, p<0.001), with waist circumference (WC) (r=0.47, p<0.001) and with HOMA-IR (r=0.44, p<0.001). Conclusion: Our results indicate a high prevalence of metabolic syndrome in overweight and obese children and adolescents referred to our unit. Further studies are needed to investigate whether these results are generalisable to the general Georgian population.
Keywords: Visceral Obesity; Metabolic Syndrome; Children; Adolescents
