Association of metabolic syndrome with arterial compliance in children and adolescents.

The association of metabolic syndrome (MS) with arterial compliance in children and adolescents was explored. 337 subjects (188 men and 149 women) aged 6-18 (10.95 ± 3.01) years, out of "Beijing Child Metabolic Syndrome Study", were divided into three case groups (one component, two components, three & more components of MS) and one control group based on the Cook's MS definition in children and adolescents. Measurements including anthropometry, blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose and insulin, serum lipid profile were done. Homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) index was calculated for estimating individual insulin resistance. Arterial compliance was measured using digital pulse wave analyzing method from the pulse trace machine (Micro medical, London), and then the stiffness index (SI) was determined. The mean value of SI in MS group was significant higher than that in control group [(7.69 ± 1.63) vs (6.25 ± 0.86) m/s, P<0.01]. With the increase of the clustering of MS components, SI and HOMA-IR were gradually increased. After taking account of gender, age and pubertal development, the partial correlation analysis showed that the amount of components of MS and HOMA-IR were positively correlated with SI (both P values were less than 0.05). The arterial compliance of MS group was significantly lowered in children and adolescents, and with the increase of the clustering of MS components, arterial compliance was gradually decreased. It was suggested that arterial compliance assessment in children and adolescents was important for early prevention of cardiovascular diseases.