The effect of different adiposity factors on insulin resistance in obese children and adolescents

Abstract

Context: Insulin resistance (IR) has been common in obese children, but the effect of different adiposity factors on IR is still unclear.

Objective: To evaluate the associations between IR with body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), body fat mass (BFM), and body fat percentage (BFP) in obese children and adolescents.

Methods: A total of 224 simple obese children were included in this study, including 150 boys and 74 girls, aged 3-18 who were seen in the clinical nutrition outpatient of Xinhua Hospital from September 2012 to December 2019. Basic information, body composition and laboratory tests were collected.

Results: Compared with girls, boys had higher height, weight, BMI, WC, and BFM (P < 0.05), but on the contrary, boys' FINS and HOMA- IR were lower than girls' (P > 0.05). With the age increasing, height, weight, BMI, BFM, WC, HC, WHtR, FINS and HOMA-IR increased accordingly (P < 0.05). The results from univariate analysis and multiple linear regression analysis showed that the impact of BMI on IR was slightly lower than BFM, WC and HC, but higher than BFP, with adjusting for the effects of age, sex and lipid metabolism (P < 0.01).

Conclusion: Overall adipose tissue, especially abdominal adipose tissue, is a powerful marker in inducing IR in obese children and adolescents. In addition, more attention should be paid to WC and BFM than BMI in obese people with IR.

Keywords: adiposity; body fat mass; children; insulin resistance; obese.