Prevalence of metabolic syndrome among urban Indian adolescents and its relation with insulin resistance (HOMA-IR).

AIM: To assess prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) in urban Indian adolescents. MS in adolescents is a forerunner of diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease in adults, therefore, its identification provides an opportunity to intervene with lifestyle changes to prevent disease progression into adulthood. We randomly selected 900 adolescents (300 for each group) to participate in the study from a total of 15,101 adolescents (10-18 years) who were grouped as normal, overweight, and obese (total population).

METHODS: From the 900 adolescents, 695 consented to participate in the study and underwent a detailed anthropometric and biochemical evaluation, therefore, these adolescents constituted the study population. MS was defined by criteria proposed by the International Diabetes Federation (MS-IDF) and the Adult Treatment Panel (MS-ATP). The prevalence of MS in the study population was used to calculate the prevalence of MS in the total population based on the distribution of the different BMI categories in this larger sample (n=15,101).

RESULTS: Calculated prevalence of MS in urban Indian adolescents was 4.3% and 3.0% in the total population using MS-ATP and MS-IDF criteria, respectively. Among the study population, MS was higher in girls than boys (MS-ATP, G: 22.3% vs. B: 16.6%, p=0.03; MS-IDF, G: 20.5% vs. B: 13.5%, p=0.006). The most common component of MS- ATP and MS-IDF was central obesity (89.8% vs. 100.0%, p<0.00001), followed by hypertriglyceridemia (83.0% vs. 82.2%, p=0.35), low high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (71.1% vs. 71.2%, p=0.48), hypertension (44.4% vs. 44.9%, p=0.025), and dysglycemia (40.0% vs. 34.7%, p=0.94). The mean serum insulin levels and HOMA-IR progressively increased with the increasing number of components present in an individual.

CONCLUSIONS: Metabolic syndrome is common in urban Indian overweight and obese adolescents.