Abstract
Background: Prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) in obese adolescents has been reported to range between 18–42%, depending on country of origin, thus suggesting an ethnic-based association between obesity and MS.Aim: This study aims to investigate the magnitude of the association between obesity, insulin resistance and components of MS among adolescents in Lebanon.Subjects and methods: The sample included 263 adolescents at 4th and 5th Tanner stages of puberty (104 obese; 78 overweight; 81 normal weight). Anthropometric, biochemical and blood pressure measurements were performed. Body fat was assessed using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry.Results: According to International Diabetes Federation criteria, MS was identified in 21.2% of obese, 3.8% of overweight and 1.2% of normal weight subjects. The most common metabolic abnormalities among subjects having MS were elevated waist circumference (96.2%), low HDL (96.2%) and hypertriglyceridemia (73.1%). Insulin resistance was identified in all subjects having MS. Regression analyses showed that percentage body fat, waist circumference and BMI were similar in their ability to predict the MS in this age group.Conclusions: MS was identified in a substantial proportion of Lebanese obese adolescents, thus highlighting the importance of early screening for obesity-associated metabolic abnormalities and of developing successful multi-component interventions addressing adolescent obesity.
Highlights
Prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) in obese adolescents has been reported to range between 18 –42%, depending on country of origin, suggesting an ethnicbased association between obesity and MS
Findings indicate that the prevalence of MS among obese adolescents in Lebanon (24%) is notably high, exceeding that reported from developed countries such as Italy (16.5%) (Caranti et al 2008) and Spain (18.0%) (Lopez-Capapeet al. 2006), while being lower than that reported from the US (42%) (Dhuper et al 2007), the UAE (44%) (Eapen et al 2010) and Iran (41.9%) (Esmaillzadeh et al 2006)
In conclusion, this study is, to our knowledge, the first in the Levant area and in Lebanon to investigate the magnitude of the association between obesity and components of the MS in an adolescent population group
Summary
Prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) in obese adolescents has been reported to range between 18 –42%, depending on country of origin, suggesting an ethnicbased association between obesity and MS. In a recent study conducted on 203 overweight and obese subjects aged 6 – 17 years living in Norway, the prevalence of MS was found to be higher among obese subjects with Middle Eastern origins than among their Norwegian counterparts (30.6% vs 20.8%) (Kolsgaard et al 2008). This association between adolescent obesity and MS indicators has not been investigated in many countries of the Middle-East
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