Metabolic syndrome in children aged 6 to 12 years with obesity in public schools of seven municipalities in the State of Mexico

Abstract

Objective. To estimate the prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome (MS), its components and its association with obesity and cardiovascular risk in school age children. Materials and methods. A cross-sectional study of 1,017 children from 6 to 12 years of age. Anthropometric information, blood pressure, glucose, insulin, cholesterol, HDLc, LDLc and triglycerides were collected. The presence of MS and its components were determined by criteria of Cook et. al. (2003), modified for children and adolescents. In the analysis, the children were grouped by aged group of 6 to 9 and 10 to 12 years. The association between MS, obesity and cardiovascular risk was estimated using Student's t-test and Mann-Whitney U test, Chi-square test and logistic regression. Results. The MS was present with 54.6% in obese children. Obesity was the characteristic of greater association to suffer from MS with an OR=8.62 p < 0.001. Conclusions. MS is high among children with obesity, and is mostly associated with insulin resistance and atherogenic risk.