DOC News January 1, 2007
Volume 4 Number 1 p. 11
© 2007 American Diabetes Association
Insulin Resistance Among Adolescents
If recent research on the prevalence of insulin resistance among American
adolescents is accurate, the medical community faces an epidemic of incident
diabetes in the future.
A group of investigators from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and
University of California, San Francisco, conducted a study of insulin
resistance—a predictor of type 2 diabetes—among adolescents who
participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)
1999–2000.
Researchers used the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance,
which is derived from measurements of fasting glucose and insulin levels. The
study included 1,802 of 4,902 adolescents without diabetes, aged 12–19
years, for whom fasting laboratory measurements were available.
Overall, insulin resistance was more common in girls than boys, and higher
in Mexican-American children than white children. No differences were noted
between whites and blacks. Children who were obese—with a body mass
index at or above the 95th percentile for age and sex—had much higher
levels of insulin resistance than children of normal weight. More than 50% of
obese children had insulin resistance.
Weight was the most important risk factor for insulin resistance, more so
than ethnicity, sex, or age—accounting for 29% of the variance in
insulin resistance measurements, according to researchers.
"The prevalence of insulin resistance in obese children foreshadows a
worrisome trend for the burden of type 2 diabetes in the U.S.," the
researchers conclude.
Lee JM, Okumura MJ, Davis MM, et al.: Prevalence and
determinants of insulin resistance among U.S. adolescents: A population-based
study. Diabetes Care 29:2427–2432, 2006.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
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