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Obese Kids Developing
Diabetes At An Alarming Rate
posted 07/21/04
A study of very obese children
suggests that half may have a worrisome cluster of health conditions that
increase their risk of developing diabetes and heart disease at an early age.
Researchers at Yale University School of Medicine said their findings suggest
that this combination of health ills, a condition called metabolic syndrome, is
more common among children and adolescents than previously thought and increases
with the level of obesity.
"Obesity is not just a cosmetic issue. It's a big problem because you open the
door for serious, chronic complications," said Dr. Sonia Caprio, who runs the
pediatric obesity clinic at Yale.
Caprio said metabolic syndrome increases these youngsters' risk of early
development of type 2 diabetes and heart disease - problems usually associated
with middle age.
Within 2 years, 8 of 34 children with metabolic syndrome developed type 2
diabetes, according to the study in the "This is a yellow flag and a warning for
public health officials and education systems to focus on reducing childhood
obesity," said Dr. Sethu Reddy, an endocrinologist at the Cleveland Clinic.
The conditions generally used to define metabolic syndrome are obesity, high
blood pressure, high blood sugar, high triglycerides and low HDL, the good form
of cholesterol. Anyone with three of the five conditions is considered to have
metabolic syndrome, and about a quarter of adults have it.
The researchers tested 439 children and adolescents - 244 who were moderately
obese and 195 severely obese. Also tested were 51 of their siblings who were
overweight or lean.
Metabolic syndrome was found in 50% of the severely obese and 39% of the
moderately obese but not in any of their siblings. After obesity, high blood
pressure was the most common condition.
An earlier study, based on a 1988-94 national health survey, found that 29% of
obese adolescents had metabolic syndrome. Since then, the number of overweight
children has increased from 11% to 15% of those 6-18 years old.
Seventy-seven of the Yale participants were checked again about 2 years later.
Twenty-four of 34 still had metabolic syndrome, and 8 had developed type 2
diabetes. The syndrome developed in 16 of the 43 children who did not initially
have it.
"I've been in the field for 20 years. What I'm seeing now, I've never seen
before," said Caprio, adding that it is not uncommon for a teen to weigh 200 or
300 pounds.
Losing weight through diet and increased activity should help reverse or reduce
the conditions and ward off complications, she said.
Source: Diabetes In Control.com: New England Journal of Medicine. June 3, 2004.
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