[Prevalence of obesity and cardiovascular risk factors in a group of paediatric patients with type 1 diabetes].

OBJECTIVE

To establish the prevalence of overweight-obesity and metabolic syndrome in a group of paediatric patients with type 1 diabetes (DM1), and to determine the effects on the lipoprotein profile and metabolic control.

METHODS

A group of 115 patients (5-16 years) with DM1, and on intensive insulin therapy was studied. Weight, height, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), blood pressure (BP), glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c), total cholesterol (TC), HDL-cholesterol (HDL-c), LDL-cholesterol (LDL-c) and triglycerides (TG) were measured. The results were stratified by sex and age (< 11 years and ≥ 11 years).

RESULTS

The prevalence of overweight and obesity (according to Hernández's reference values) was 28.69% and 18.26%, respectively, with female predominance in both cases. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome (according to the International Diabetes Federation criteria) was 3.22%. 3.47% The WC adjusted for age and sex was > 90th percentile in 3.47% of cases, and 2.6% had a systolic BP ≥ 130 mmHg and/or a diastolic BP ≥ 85 mmHg. An HDL-c < 40 mg/dl was seen in 4.34%, and 2.6% had TG ≥ 150 mg/dl. Obese patients had lower HDL-c levels and higher LDL-c levels than non-obese subjects. There were no significant differences in HbA1c between patients with overweight-obesity and the rest.

CONCLUSIONS

Overweight and obesity are common in paediatric patients with DM1. Nevertheless, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular risk factors is lower than in adult patients. The group of diabetic children with obesity had a lipoprotein profile of cardiovascular risk.