Metabolic disorders in children and adolescents with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
BACKGROUND
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in children and adolescents is increasing in incidence worldwide. It is the leading type of newly diagnosed diabetes in Taiwan among school children. T2DM is associated with metabolic syndrome in adults, so we tried to find out if these metabolic disorders are present in children.


METHODS
From 1989 to 2003, 22 children and adolescents were diagnosed with T2DM in our hospital. Their ages ranged from 8.8 to 17.0 (11.7+/-2.3) years; 6 of them were boys. We compared their clinical characteristics with those of 42 healthy and 237 obese children and adolescents. Physical examination was performed and plasma glucose and serum cholesterol, triglycerides, uric acid, creatinine, HDL-cholesterol, and insulin levels were measured and LDL-cholesterol was calculated. Demographic and laboratory data were compared among the T2DM, obese and control groups.


RESULTS
The female: male ratio among the patients was 2.7: 1; 18% were overweight and 68% obese, and 64% had acanthosis nigricans. There were no significant differences between the T2DM and obese groups in terms of biochemistry profiles except for the higher plasma glucose in the T2DM group. Children with T2DM had higher levels of cholesterol and triglycerides but lower levels of HDL-cholesterol compared with healthy children. Among obese children without T2DM, the levels of glucose, triglycerides, uric acid, insulin, HOMA-IR were higher than in the healthy group, and HDL-cholesterol levels were lower.


CONCLUSIONS
Children with T2DM or obesity should be evaluated for metabolic disorders.
Huang
Chi-Yu
CY
Department of Pediatrics, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Li
Hsin-Jung
HJ
Lo
Fu-Sung
FS
Wang
An-Mei
AM
Shih
Bing-Fu
BF
Lin
Chao-Hsu
CH
Chen
Ming-Ren
MR
Lee
Hung-Chang
HC
Lee
Yann-Jinn
YJ
D000052:Acanthosis Nigricans / Q000209:etiology; D000293:Adolescent; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D007333:Insulin Resistance; D008297:Male; D008659:Metabolic Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D009765:Obesity / Q000378:metabolism
D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D007328:Insulin