Teenage Insulin Resistance May Be Predictor Of Heart Disease Later On

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Main Category: Heart Disease
Also Included In: Diabetes;  Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Hypertension
Article Date: 21 Aug 2006 - 15:00 PST

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If insulin resistance is detected in a teenager, this could be a predictor of heart disease and diabetes later on during adulthood, say scientists from the University of Minnesota Medical School. The researchers wanted to compare the predictability of BMI (body mass index) and insulin resistance on future risk factors.

BMI is the main way doctors today measure for overweight and/or obesity. If a person's BMI is over 30 he/she is obese.

You can read about this study in the journal Hypertension, August 22 issue.

Team leader,Dr. Alan R. Sinaiko, said "We found that insulin resistance itself, independent of body-mass index, was an indicator of increased risk. Everyone today is tuned into fatness. If you can keep people from gaining weight in childhood and adolescence, it will have a positive impact on risk as a young adult. Since insulin resistance is important independent of body-mass index, this suggests attention should be paid to trying to develop strategies against it."

The researchers say that adopting good diet and becoming more physically active are the best ways of tackling looming insulin resistance.

357 schoolchildren were monitored. They received a complete medical check up, including how effective their insulin management was, when they were 13. The lower the uptake of glucose into cells the higher the insulin resistance. Insulin management tests were carried out again on the same children when the children were 15 and then 19.

The researchers found that those with insulin resistance when they were 13 were much more likely to experience hypertension (high blood pressure) and elevated levels of lipids in their blood (triglycerides) when they reached 19. Therefore insulin resistance at 13 could be a good predictor of heart disease and diabetes later in life. High blood triglyceride levels and hypertension significantly raise a person's risk of having a stroke or some kind of heart disease.

Influence of Insulin Resistance and Body Mass Index at Age 13 on Systolic Blood Pressure, Triglycerides, and High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol at Age 19
Alan R. Sinaiko; Julia Steinberger; Antoinette Moran; Ching-Ping Hong; Ronald J. Prineas; and David R. Jacobs Jr
Hypertension 2006, doi:10.1161/01.HYP.0000237863.24000.50
Click Here To View Abstract

Written by: Christian Nordqvist

Editor: Medical News Today
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