title: Is fasting insulin associated with blood pressure in obese children?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We tested whether fasting insulin levels are associated with blood pressure in a large sample of obese children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three hundred and fifty obese children (F:M ratio = 1.03) of 10.1 +/- 2.7 y of age (mean +/- SD) were consecutively enrolled at an Outpatient Paediatric Clinic. Obesity was diagnosed on the basis of a relative weight for age > 120% and hypertension on the basis of a systolic (SBP) or diastolic (DBP) blood pressure > 95th percentile for age after adjustment for height (Ht).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Insulin was significantly higher in hypertensive (n = 202, 58%) than normotensive (n = 148, 42%) children (16 vs 14 microU mL(-1), geometric mean, p < 0.01, ANOVA) but the difference was not clinically relevant. Moreover, (log-transformed) insulin explained only 7 and 4% of SBP and DBP variance, respectively (p < 0.0001 for both) and this contribution disappeared after the confounding effects of age, weight or other anthropometric dimensions were taken into account (p = ns, ANCOVA).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study does not support the hypothesis of a clinically relevant association between fasting insulin and blood pressure in obese children.
authors.affiliation: University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Iughetti
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bedogni
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ferrari
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pagliato
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Manzieri
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Simone
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Battistini
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bernasconi
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D000886:Anthropometry; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002648:Child; D005215:Fasting; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood* / Q000502:physiology; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D007328:Insulin; D008055:Lipids