New metabolic measurements to predict diabetes in kids

A new U.S. study proposes that the blood pressure, body mass index, and blood glucose levels may foretell chances of type 2 diabetes in children.

The research was initiated by Dr John Morrison and colleagues from the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Centre, and was supported by the National Institute of Health and the American Heart Association in Cincinnati.

“In the past 25 years, the prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus have increased concomitantly, and the age at onset of type 2 diabetes mellitus has dropped precipitously, especially in black females,” informs Dr John Morrison.

According to the study, a high systolic blood pressure and insulin concentration during childhood combined with a parent with diabetes augmented the possibility of being diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 19.

Study particulars
The researchers examined data collected by two past studies. While the first analyzed 1067 girls aged 9 and 10 for a period of nine years, the second followed 822 schoolchildren for 22 to 30 years.

Metabolic measurements and knowledge of a parental history of diabetes helped the scientists find that the kids had more chances of becoming diabetic at the age of 39 if they had high blood pressure, a high body mass index, glucose levels of at least 100 milligrams per deciliter, low high-density lipoprotein levels and high triglyceride levels in childhood.

“When body mass index, systolic blood pressure and diastolic [bottom number] blood pressure were all lower than the 75th percentile and there was no parental diabetes mellitus, the likelihood of children developing type 2 diabetes mellitus 22 to 30 years later was only 1 percent,” reports Dr John Morrison.

Likewise, a body mass index and blood pressure lesser than the 75th percentile combined with no parental history of the disease lowered the risk of developing diabetes during adulthood to only one percent.

Diet and exercise can check diabetes
Findings of the present study can help the pediatricians in providing advanced counseling for children having a probability of developing the type 2 diabetes so that they can take necessary precautions beforehand.

Following a balance diet, exercising regularly, and taking insulin-sensitizing drugs can help such children ward off the threat of diabetes in later years.

The present study has been published in this month’s issue of the medical journal titled, ‘Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine’.

source: themedguru