Pediatric metabolic syndrome predicts adulthood metabolic syndrome, subclinical atherosclerosis, and type 2 diabetes mellitus but is no better than body mass index alone: the Bogalusa Heart Study and the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Description

The first objective of this study was to investigate whether pediatric metabolic syndrome was associated with an increased risk of subsequent disease in adulthood such as atherosclerosis (measured by carotid intima-media thickness [cIMT]) and type 2 diabetes and to compare this prediction with its individual components. For that purpose, 2 prospective cohorts, the Bogalusa Heart Study and the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study, were used and data from 1,781 participants aged 9 to 18 years at baseline and 24 to 41 years after follow-up were analyzed. Results showed that estimation of the long-term stability of metabolic syndrome from youth to adulthood ranged from 40% to 60% depending on the metabolic syndrome clinical criteria employed. However, the identification of metabolic syndrome in youth was associated with 2 to 3 times greater risk of metabolic syndrome, high cIMT and type 2 diabetes in adulthood. Moreover, the authors found that body mass index (BMI) alone predicted each outcome as well as or better than the metabolic syndrome itself. Thus, these results suggest that metabolic syndrome in youth is predictive of serious clinical outcomes, but BMI was found to be as accurate and even better for screening youth at increased risk of developing metabolic disease or cardiovascular disease during adulthood.