METABOLIC PROFILES IN OBESE CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS WITH INSULIN RESISTANCE

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Aim. To investigate the frequency of insulin resistance and to evaluate the metabolic profile of insulin resistant and non-insulin resistant obese children and adolescents. Material and Methods. The study comprised 96 (45 boys, 51 girls) obese children and adolescents aged 4-17 years (10.50±0.29 years). Only participants with Body Mass Index ≥95 percentile were included.We analyzed sera for: fasting insulin levels (FI), fasting serum triglycerides (TG), total serum cholesterol (TC), fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and plasma glucose 2 hours after the performance of the oral glucose tolerance test (2-h G). Homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) index was calculated as fasting insulin concentration (microunits per milliliter) x fasting glucose concentration (milimolar)/22.5. Results and Discussion. 58.33% of study participants had insulin resistance. Insulin resistant participants had significantly higher level of 2-h G, FI level as well as TG levels (p<0.05), compared to non-insulin resistant group. Strikingly, 70.73% of the pubertal adolescents were insulin resistant in comparison to 49.09% of the preadolescents (p=0.03). Significantly higher percentage of insulin resistant participants were girls (p=0.009). Our study results also showed positive, but weak, correlation of HOMA-IR with the age, FPG, TG and BMI of the participants (p<0.05). Conclusions. In general, insulin resistant obese children and adolescents tend to have worse metabolic profile in comparison to individuals without insulin resistance. It is of note that the highest insulin resistance was also linked with the highest concentrations of triglycerides.