Fatty pancreas in relation to insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome in children with obesity
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Abstract
Background
Ectopic visceral fat is a major risk factor for obesity complications including insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome. Ultrasonography is a simple bedside screening tool used for the assessment of ectopic visceral fat including fatty pancreas. This study investigates the association between insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and fatty pancreas detected by ultrasound in children with obesity.
Methods
This case-control study included 50 prepubertal obese (body mass index [BMI] ≥95th age- and sex-specific percentiles) and 30 lean children (BMI 5th–85th age- and sex-specific percentiles) as the control group. Clinical and laboratory parameters of metabolic syndrome including anthropometric indices of central obesity, blood pressure, fasting glucose and lipid profile were measured. Homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) was used to assess insulin resistance. Ultrasonographic assessment for pancreatic fat was done for all children.
Results
Fifty-eight percent of obese children had fatty pancreas. Obese children with fatty pancreas had a higher rate of metabolic syndrome (p=0.013) and insulin resistance than those with non-fatty pancreas (p=0.012). Regression analysis revealed that fatty pancreas is an independent predictor of metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance. Fatty pancreas increases the risk for metabolic syndrome (odds ratio [OR] 11.40; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.69–48.22) and insulin resistance (OR 7.85; 95% CI: 2.20–28.05) in children with obesity.
Conclusions
Obese children have higher pancreatic fat accumulation than lean children. Obese children with fatty pancreas are more susceptible to insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome.
Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.
Research funding: None declared.
Employment or leadership: None declared.
Honorarium: None declared.
Competing interests: The funding organization(s) played no role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the report for publication.
Conflict of interest: None.
Funding: None.
No financial or nonfinancial benefits have been received or will be received from any party related directly or indirectly to the subject of this article.
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©2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Original Articles
- Status and trends in the use of insulin analogs, insulin delivery systems and their association with glycemic control: comparison of the two consecutive recent cohorts of Japanese children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus
- Utilizing serum bicarbonate instead of venous pH to transition from intravenous to subcutaneous insulin shortens the duration of insulin infusion in pediatric diabetic ketoacidosis
- Fatty pancreas in relation to insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome in children with obesity
- Adiponectin, leptin and high sensitivity C-reactive protein values in obese children – important markers for metabolic syndrome?
- No clinical utility of common polymorphisms in IGF1, IRS1, GCKR, PPARG, GCK1 and KCTD1 genes previously associated with insulin resistance in overweight children from Romania and Moldova
- Skin autofluorescence in children with and without obesity
- Utility of anthropometric indicators to screen for clustered cardiometabolic risk factors in children and adolescents
- Long-acting intramuscular ACTH stimulation test for the diagnosis of secondary adrenal insufficiency in children
- The effect of thyroid functions on osteopenia of prematurity in preterm infants
- Using the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 to screen for acute distress in transgender youth: findings from a pediatric endocrinology clinic
- Sex assignment practice in disorders of sexual differentiation: survey results from paediatric endocrinologists in the Arab region
- Letter to the Editor
- Columbus’ egg: a practical approach to nutritional management in maple syrup urine disease
- Case Reports
- Aromatase excess syndrome in a Chinese boy due to a novel duplication at 15q21.2
- A Turkish girl with H syndrome: stunted growth and development of autoimmune insulin dependent diabetes mellitus in the 6th year of diagnosis
- Familial ROBO1 deletion associated with ectopic posterior pituitary, duplication of the pituitary stalk and anterior pituitary hypoplasia
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Original Articles
- Status and trends in the use of insulin analogs, insulin delivery systems and their association with glycemic control: comparison of the two consecutive recent cohorts of Japanese children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus
- Utilizing serum bicarbonate instead of venous pH to transition from intravenous to subcutaneous insulin shortens the duration of insulin infusion in pediatric diabetic ketoacidosis
- Fatty pancreas in relation to insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome in children with obesity
- Adiponectin, leptin and high sensitivity C-reactive protein values in obese children – important markers for metabolic syndrome?
- No clinical utility of common polymorphisms in IGF1, IRS1, GCKR, PPARG, GCK1 and KCTD1 genes previously associated with insulin resistance in overweight children from Romania and Moldova
- Skin autofluorescence in children with and without obesity
- Utility of anthropometric indicators to screen for clustered cardiometabolic risk factors in children and adolescents
- Long-acting intramuscular ACTH stimulation test for the diagnosis of secondary adrenal insufficiency in children
- The effect of thyroid functions on osteopenia of prematurity in preterm infants
- Using the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 to screen for acute distress in transgender youth: findings from a pediatric endocrinology clinic
- Sex assignment practice in disorders of sexual differentiation: survey results from paediatric endocrinologists in the Arab region
- Letter to the Editor
- Columbus’ egg: a practical approach to nutritional management in maple syrup urine disease
- Case Reports
- Aromatase excess syndrome in a Chinese boy due to a novel duplication at 15q21.2
- A Turkish girl with H syndrome: stunted growth and development of autoimmune insulin dependent diabetes mellitus in the 6th year of diagnosis
- Familial ROBO1 deletion associated with ectopic posterior pituitary, duplication of the pituitary stalk and anterior pituitary hypoplasia
