Metabolic syndrome on the rise among obese teens

By Anne Harding

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A cluster of heart disease and diabetes risk factors known as the metabolic syndrome is becoming increasingly common in adolescents, paralleling the rise in teen obesity, a new study shows.

Obese teens are now more likely to have the syndrome than they were just a few years ago. However, the prevalence varies widely - from 12.4 percent to 44.2 percent -- depending upon which definition of metabolic syndrome is used.

The metabolic syndrome is seen almost exclusively in overweight kids, Dr. Stephen Cook of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in New York, the study's lead author, told Reuters Health.

The components of metabolic syndrome include high cholesterol and triglyceride levels, low levels of "good" HDL cholesterol, high blood sugar, high blood pressure, and excess belly fat.

The syndrome is known to increase the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease in adults, but it remains unclear whether adolescents with the syndrome are worse off than those who are obese but don't have metabolic syndrome.

In a study of national data from 1988 to 1994, Cook and his colleagues previously found that 4 percent of adolescents overall, and 28 percent of overweight teens, had metabolic syndrome. In the current study, using 1999-2002 data, they found that 9 percent of all adolescents and 44 percent of obese adolescents had the syndrome.

It's not clear why the metabolic syndrome is becoming more common in obese teens, Cook said; one possibility is that they're increasingly likely to have excess abdominal fat, which could be related to a sedentary lifestyle and a poor diet.

No matter what the cause, he added, the treatment is the same: more exercise, less screen time, and a healthier diet.

"Improved lifestyle is the key focus, it's not going to be drug therapy...there's no medicine for any of this," he added.

SOURCE: Journal of Pediatrics, February 2008.