PLoS ONE (Jan 2014)

Whole-body and hepatic insulin resistance in obese children.

  • Lorena del Rocío Ibarra-Reynoso,
  • Liudmila Pisarchyk,
  • Elva Leticia Pérez-Luque,
  • Ma Eugenia Garay-Sevilla,
  • Juan Manuel Malacara

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0113576
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 11
p. e113576

Abstract

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BackgroundInsulin resistance may be assessed as whole body or hepatic.ObjectiveTo study factors associated with both types of insulin resistance.MethodsCross-sectional study of 182 obese children. Somatometric measurements were registered, and the following three adiposity indexes were compared: BMI, waist-to-height ratio and visceral adiposity. Whole-body insulin resistance was evaluated using HOMA-IR, with 2.5 as the cut-off point. Hepatic insulin resistance was considered for IGFBP-1 level quartiles 1 to 3 (ResultsThe majority, 73.1%, of obese children had whole-body insulin resistance and hepatic insulin resistance, while 7% did not have either type. HOMA-IR was negatively associated with IGFBP-1 and positively associated with BMI, triglycerides, leptin and mother's BMI. Girls had increased HOMA-IR. IGFBP-1 was negatively associated with waist-to-height ratio, age, leptin, HOMA-IR and IGF-I. We did not find HOMA-IR or IGFBP-1 associated with fatty liver.ConclusionIn school-aged children, BMI is the best metric to predict whole-body insulin resistance, and waist-to-height ratio is the best predictor of hepatic insulin resistance, indicating that central obesity is important for hepatic insulin resistance. The reciprocal negative association of IGFBP-1 and HOMA-IR may represent a strong interaction of the physiological processes of both whole-body and hepatic insulin resistance.