Metabolic syndrome puts some teens at risk

At least 4% of American youths age 12 to 19 -- and 30% of those who are overweight -- meet the criteria for metabolic syndrome, a condition that puts them at increased risk for diabetes and heart disease as adults.

Researchers reviewing data from a nationwide survey of 2,430 adolescents considered a child to have metabolic syndrome, also called Syndrome X, if he or she had three of these factors: high blood pressure, high levels of triglycerides in the blood, low levels of heart-healthy HDL cholesterol, high blood sugar, and abdominal obesity.

Considering that the study data were collected between 1988 and 1994, the researchers say the actual number of children affected may be an even higher 7%.

White children had the highest levels of triglycerides. The highest rate of abdominal obesity was in Mexican Americans. Black adolescents had the highest rate of high blood pressure.

The study appeared in the August Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

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-- Dianne Partie Lange