Overweight, family history of diabetes and attending schools of lower academic grading are independent predictors for metabolic syndrome in Hong Kong Chinese adolescents

Risa Ozaki ¹, Qing Qiao ², Gary WK Wong ¹, Michael HM Chan ¹, Wing-Yee So ¹, Peter CY Tong ¹, Stanley CS Ho ¹, Gary Tin-Choi Ko ^3*, Alice PS Kong ¹, Christopher WK Lam ¹, Jaakko Tuomilehto ² and Juliana CN Chan ¹

¹ Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
² The National Institute of Public Health, Helsinki, Finland
³ AH Nethersole Hospital, Hong Kong

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: gtc_ko{at}yahoo.com.hk.

Accepted 23 October 2006

Abstract

Background: Overweight and metabolic syndrome are emerging in both adult and pediatric populations.

Aims: To study the prevalence and associated risk factors of the metabolic syndrome, using the National Cholesterol Education Program definition, among Hong Kong Chinese adolescents studying in secondary schools.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional, population- based study. A cohort of 2115 Chinese adolescents was randomly selected from 14 secondary schools, throughout Hong Kong. Data on anthropometric parameters, fasting blood and urine samples were collected in the school setting. Information regarding the adolescent's family history of diabetes, perinatal history, socio-economic status and school grading were evaluated.

Results: The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 2.4% (95% CI: 1.8-3.1) with no significant difference between boys (2.9%) and girls (2.0%). The prevalence of various components of metabolic syndrome was 32.2% (30.2- 34.2) for hypertension, 10.9% (9.6-12.2) for elevated triglyceride, 9.0% (7.8-10.2) for central adiposity, 2.4% (1.7-3.0) for low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and 0.3% (0.1-0.6) for impaired fasting glucose. On multivariate analysis, overweight [odds ratio (95%) = 32.2 (13.2-78.4)], positive family history of diabetes [4.3 (1.3-14.1)] and studying at schools of lower academic grading [5.5 (2.2-13.7)] were independent risk factors for the metabolic syndrome.

Conclusion: We observed a comparable prevalence of metabolic syndrome in our Chinese adolescent girls (2.0%) with that in US (2.1%) but lower prevalence in Chinese boys (2.9%) than those in US (6.1%). In our study, 41.8% harbor at least one component of the syndrome. Both families and schools should be alerted to this growing epidemic.

Keywords: Chinese, adolescent, glucose intolerance, metabolic syndrome, overweight

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

A brief digest of the March issue
Arch. Dis. Child. 2007 92: e3. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Chan, J. C. N., Malik, V., Jia, W., Kadowaki, T., Yajnik, C. S., Yoon, K.-H., Hu, F. B. (2009). Diabetes in Asia: Epidemiology, Risk Factors, and Pathophysiology. JAMA 301: 2129-2140 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Tam, C. H.T., Ma, R. C.W., So, W. Y., Wang, Y., Lam, V. K.L., Germer, S., Martin, M., Chan, J. C.N., Ng, M. C.Y. (2009). Interaction Effect of Genetic Polymorphisms in Glucokinase (GCK) and Glucokinase Regulatory Protein (GCKR) on Metabolic Traits in Healthy Chinese Adults and Adolescents. Diabetes 58: 765-769 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Ng, M. C.Y., Park, K. S., Oh, B., Tam, C. H.T., Cho, Y. M., Shin, H. D., Lam, V. K.L., Ma, R. C.W., So, W. Y., Cho, Y. S., Kim, H.-L., Lee, H. K., Chan, J. C.N., Cho, N. H. (2008). Implication of Genetic Variants Near TCF7L2, SLC30A8, HHEX, CDKAL1, CDKN2A/B, IGF2BP2, and FTO in Type 2 Diabetes and Obesity in 6,719 Asians. Diabetes 57: 2226-2233 [Abstract] [Full Text]