Screening for impaired glucose tolerance in obese children and adolescents: a validation and implementation study.

UNLABELLED: What is already known about this subject Fasting triglycerides above 1.17 mmol/L have been shown to be useful to select obese children and adolescents who may present impaired glucose tolerance in a Canadian cohort. Fasting plasma glucose is associated with the risk to present impaired glucose tolerance in several cohorts of obese children and adolescents. What this study adds When applied to Italian cohorts of obese children and adolescents, the triglycerides cut-off of 1.17 mmol/L has similar validity as in the Canadian cohort to select patients who may present impaired glucose tolerance. Fasting plasma glucose and fasting triglycerides can be combined to obtain an accurate criterion to select obese children and adolescents who may present impaired glucose tolerance. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to validate fasting triglycerides > 1.17 mmol L(-1) , a criterion recently proposed for selecting obese children at risk of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), and to assess whether the accuracy of triglycerides (TG) can be improved by the use of other variables. METHODS: We studied an Italian cohort of 817 obese children and adolescents (8-18.4 years) who underwent clinical examination, fasting blood analysis and the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). The discriminative properties of TG > 1.17 mmol L(-1) were assessed and compared with those observed in a Canadian cohort from which this criterion was derived: 71.4 [57.8-85.1]% sensitivity and 64.1 [57.7-70.4]% specificity. The possible contribution of other variables was evaluated by assessing the net reclassification improvement (NRI), i.e., the net increase in the percentage of subjects correctly classified. RESULTS: Thirty-nine children (4.7%) had IGT. The 1.17 mmol L(-1) TG threshold showed 66.6 [51.8-81.4]% sensitivity and 68.2 [64.9-71.5]% specificity, thus successfully validated. Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) was independently associated with IGT (odds ratio = 3.86 [2.09-7.14], P < 0.001), besides TG. The bivariate criterion of TG ≥ 1.13 mmol L(-1) plus FPG ≥ 4.44 mmol L(-1) had a 69.2 [54.7-83.7]% sensitivity and a 78.2 [76.8-79.6]% specificity, thus displaying a 12.6% NRI (P < 0.001) compared with TG>1.17 mmol L(-1) . CONCLUSIONS: TG > 1.17 mmol L(-1) is a useful criterion to detect roughly 66% of obese children with IGT through OGTT performed in about 33% of all obese children. However, the 'TG≥1.13 mmol L(-1) plus FPG≥4.44 mmol L(-1) ' criterion improved discrimination accuracy, leading to the possibility of detecting even more than 66% of obese children with IGT though limiting OGTT to just 25% of all obese children.

Waist circumference as a predictor of cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors in obese girls.

OBJECTIVES: (a). to explore the relationship between waist circumference and certain cardiovascular risk factors in a group of girls; and (b). to assess the clinical relevance of waist circumference in identifying girls with higher cardiovascular risk across puberty. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: One-hundred and fifty-five overweight or obese girls aged 5-16 y were recruited. Overweight and obesity were defined on the basis of BMI, according to Cole. RESULTS: : Waist circumference was significantly correlated with plasma insulin (r=0.43; P<0.001), systolic blood pressure (r=0.22; P=0.007) and IR(HOMA) (r=0.40; P<0.001). A multivariate linear correlation analysis showed that, when adjusted for age and Tanner stage, waist circumference was significantly associated with plasma insulin (r(2)=0.23; P<0.01), IR(HOMA) (r(2)=0.17; P<0.02), systolic and diastolic blood pressure (r(2)=0.20; P=0.006 and r(2)=0.32; P<0.001, respectively). A logistic regression analysis, using IR(HOMA) as the dependent variable, showed that waist circumference was a significant independent risk factor of insulin resistance (IR(HOMA)>or=2.6) in this group of girls (OR 1.10; 95% CI 1.03-1.18; P=0.003), independently of their age and Tanner stage. CONCLUSIONS: Waist circumference of these girls was independently associated with certain cardiovascular risk factors, in particular insulin resistance and diastolic blood pressure, independently of age and Tanner stage. Thus suggesting that waist circumference may be reasonably included in clinical practice as a simple tool that may help to identify sub-groups of obese girls at higher metabolic risk across puberty.

Childhood obesity: results of a multicenter study of obesity treatment in Italy.

The prevalence of pediatric obesity is increasing and many patients are followed by specialized centers or private doctors. The aim of this study was to verify short- and medium term results of a therapeutic approach based on nutritional intervention in a large pediatric population: 1383 subjects (695 females, 688 males) aged 10.1 +/- 2.7 yr, followed in 11 pediatric departments in Italy. No difference was found between centers in age, height, weight, BMI and IBW. The drop-out rate after the first visit was 30.2% (58.1% IBW > 140%) in females and 34.2% (70.7% IBW > 140%) in males. After two years of follow-up only 9.7% of females and 6.4% of males remained on treatment. Of these patients only 7.3% of females and 6.4% of males had IBW < 120%. These data show that an approach based on nutritional intervention alone is not sufficient for long-term treatment of pediatric obesity. Only an approach started early and involving the family can produce permanent results.

The effect of different doses of 32P in the treatment of primary thrombocytosis.

We report on a follow up in 23 patients with primary thrombocytosis treated with two different doses of 32phosphorus phosphate (32P). Ten patients with essential thrombocytosis (ET) received 2 mCi and 13 patients with polycythemia vera (PV) received the standard dose of 0.1 mCi/kg b.w. The patients were listed as having a complete response (CR), partial response (PR) or no response (NR) considering platelet count at 3 and 12 months after 32P injection. The results indicate the existence of a clear correlation of the rate of remission with the 32P injected dose. PV patients show, in fact, a percentage of complete remission higher than ET patients. However, the use of higher doses induces more early and long-term complications.