Insulin and HOMA in Spanish prepubertal children: relationship with lipid profile.
OBJECTIVE
The effects of insulin or insulin resistance on the lipid profile seem to change with age. The aim of this study was to analyze insulin levels and an insulin resistance index and to investigate the relationship between these and the lipid profile in a population-based sample of Spanish prepubertal children.


METHODS
1048 (524 boys and 524 girls) randomly selected prepubertal children were studied. Children were 6 to 8 years old with a mean age of 6.7. Plasma lipid, FFA and insulin levels were measured. The homeostatic model assessment (HOMA) was calculated as an indicator of insulin resistance.


RESULTS
When analyzing percentile values of insulin, HOMA and FFA by sex, we observed that girls had significantly higher insulin concentrations than boys (except at the 10th percentile) and significantly higher FFA (except at the 90th percentile) with no significant differences between sexes for HOMA. Multivariate regression analyses showed that insulin was positively associated with glucose, triglycerides and apoB in boys but not in girls, and negatively associated with FFA in both genders.


CONCLUSIONS
We report here data about the distribution of insulin in the Spanish prepubertal population. The higher levels of insulin in prepubertal girls could indicate that girls start to be more insulin resistant than boys at this age, although other manifestations of insulin resistance are not yet detectable.
Garcés
Carmen
C
Unidad de Lípidos, Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Avda. Reyes Católicos, 2, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
Cano
Beatriz
B
Granizo
Juan J
JJ
Benavente
Mercedes
M
Viturro
Enrique
E
Gutiérrez-Guisado
Javier
J
de Oya
Iria
I
Lasunción
Miguel A
MA
de Oya
Manuel
M
D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006706:Homeostasis / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood*; D007333:Insulin Resistance; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D011627:Puberty / Q000097:blood*; D012737:Sex Factors; D013030:Spain
D007328:Insulin; D008055:Lipids