Background: Metabolic Syndrome (MS) is prevalant in China, especially according to the pediatric obesity group. Based on the MS-CHN2012 definition for Chinese children and adolescents the need to explore and establish a convienent MS screening become imminent. This study aims to investigate the optimal cut-off values, compare the accuracy for the (TriGlycerides (TG) to High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDL-C)) (TG/HDL-C) ratio and Homeostasis Model Assessment Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) indexs to identify Metabolic Syndrome in obese pediatric population in China.
Method: A total sample of 976 children (female 286 male 690, BMI > = 95 percentile) aged from 6-16 years underwent a medical assessment including a physical examination and investigations of total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, triglycerides, insulin, glucose, and oral glucose tolerance test to identify the components of Metabolic Syndrome. The validity and accuracy between TG/HDL-C ratio and HOMA-IR were compared by Receiver Operating Characteristics analysis (ROC).
Result: TG/HDL-C ratio achieved a larger ROC Area under Curve (AUC = 0.843) than HOMA-IR indexes (0.640, 0.625 for HOMA1-IR, HOMA2-IR respectively) to screen for Metabolic Syndrome. The cut-off values for MS were: TG/HDL-C ratio > 1.25 (sensitivity: 80%; specificity: 75%), HOMA1-IR > 4.59 (sensitivity: 58.7%; specificity: 65.5%) and HOMA2-IR > 2.76 (sensitivity: 53.2%; specificity: 69.5%). The results kept robust after stratified by gender, age group and pubertal stage.
Discussion: TG/HDL-C ratio was a better indicator than the HOMA-IR to screen for a positive diagnosis for MS. Furthermore, the TG/HDL-C ratio was superior to the HOMA-IR indexes even after the control of possible confusions from the gender, age group and puberty stage.
Conclusion: TG/HDL-C ratio proved a better index than HOMA-IR in screening for MS in obese children and adolescents. TG/HDL-C ratio has a discriminatory power in detecting potential MS in the Chinese obese pediatric population.