Metabolic Syndrome: A new Epidemic?

By Vivian Richardson, Ivanhoe Health Correspondent

ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Just like the AIDS epidemic took the United States by surprise in the 1980s, a new epidemic has snuck up on us . . . and some are predicting disastrous effects. A surge in the number of adolescents diagnosed with metabolic syndrome has health professionals fearing for the future of America's youth and scrambling to find causes and cures for the epidemic.

The problem inspired two studies published this week. In one, researchers report a link between tobacco smoke and an increased risk of metabolic syndrome in teens. The second study discusses a way for doctors to identify high-risk children by their waist circumference.

Tobacco smoke is an insidious risk to children, says Michael Weitzman, M.D., executive director of the American Academy of Pediatrics Center for Child Health Research and professor and associate chair at the University of Rochester School of Medicine. Dr. Weitzman is the lead author of the study, which reports tobacco smoke is causing an increase in the number of children with metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions that are considered to be a precursor to several deadly diseases including premature diabetes, cardiovascular disease and stroke.

The syndrome is most often seen in children and teens who are overweight. With the number overweight teens tripling in the last two decades, Dr. Weitzman says the cost of an overweight population being exposed to secondhand smoke could catch up to us sooner rather than later.

"This is an enormous epidemic that has profound public health implications that might even threaten the economic infrastructure of the United States," Weitzman says.

He and colleagues studied 2,273 kids between ages 12 and 19. The children and their parents were asked whether or not they smoked. Researchers gave the adolescents physical exams and tested their blood and urine.

One of the most alarming results in this study is how many non-smoking teens are being exposed to second-hand smoke. He says a shocking 66 percent of teens in the study have a measurable amount of cotinine, a biochemical remnant of the breakdown of nicotine in the liver. Presence of cotinine in the blood indicates exposure to secondhand smoke.

Researchers found the adolescents were five-times more likely to develop metabolic syndrome if they were exposed to secondhand smoke. If the teens were smokers themselves the risk went up to six-times compared to that of a child not exposed to smoke.

"This highlights that there's a group of overweight youngsters who are especially at risk, and they cannot be allowed to take up smoking, and their parents have to somehow be encouraged to not smoke around them."

There are currently no established signs of metabolic syndrome for youth. For this study, researchers defined children with the syndrome as having at least three of the following conditions: waist circumference in or above the 90th percentile for age and sex; blood pressure in or above the 90th percentile for age, sex and height; high levels of triglycerides, low levels of "good" cholesterol; and higher levels of fasting glucose.

Another study out of Buenos Aires, Argentina, attempts to establish waist circumference as a risk factor for metabolic syndrome in children. Statistical analysis of 84 children showed a larger-than-average waist circumference would predict three different components of the metabolic syndrome.

Dr. Weitzman says the next step is for other researchers to conduct more studies to either backup or dispute his findings. In the meantime, he says new ways to restrict children's exposure to smoke needs to be introduced.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day. To subscribe, go to http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

SOURCE: Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, 2005;112; Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine: 2005;159:740-744