Abstract
Recently, metabolic syndrome (MetS), which has been linked to abdominal adiposity and insulin resistance, has been regarded as an important contributor to cardiovascular disease worldwide. However, this has been rarely reported in the etiological studies of MetS in children. The aim of this study was to investigate the causes of MetS in children. The subjects were 225 students who participated in the school health consultation after screening for the lifestyle related diseases in S ward in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. We examined the relationship between the parental and grandparental history of diabetes mellitus and the constituent variables of MetS, and decreased physical activity in the students, according to the responses to questionnaires by their parents. The results are as follows: Students who had a family history of diabetes mellitus had significantly greater waist circumference, waist / height ratio and serum ALT levels compared to those who did not have a history of diabetes mellitus, and also the former group showed higher serum TG levels than the latter, but this did not reach statistical significance. It was observed that the numbers of constituent variables of MetS increased as the waist circumference grew larger. Moreover, the waist circumference correlated inversely with the duration of exercise outdoors on holidays. It was suggested that the family history of diabetes mellitus and decreased physical activity might be important risk factors of MetS in children.
