Insulin secretion and peripheral insulin sensitivity in obese children. Evidence of deficient glucose-stimulated early insulin release despite hyperinsulinemia.

Insulin secretion and peripheral insulin sensitivity were studied in 19 grossly-obese girls and 17 age-matched non-obese girls by means of the intravenous glucose tolerance test (IVGTT) and the simulated early insulin response test (SERT) respectively. SERT measures the fall in fasting blood glucose after a short infusion of insulin, performed so as to simulate the early phase of insulin release to the acute stimulus of an intravenous glucose load (ERex). In the IVGTT, the obese girls showed significantly increased early insulin response (ERend) in comparison with the non-obese girls. The glucose disappearance rate (KG) was similar in the two groups, although four obese girls had borderline low values. In the SERT, the rise in plasma insulin caused a much smaller decrease in blood glucose in the obese girls, than in the reference girls over the whole range of insulin levels studied. The relationship between insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion of each subject was evaluated from the plot of the ERex/ERend ratio vs blood glucose decrement. This showed that the hyperinsulinemia of the obese girls did not match the degree of peripheral resistance.