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Pediatrics / Cook Lab / Metabolic Syndrome Research
 

Metabolic Syndrome Research

The Division of General Pediatrics was the first to describe a cluster of cardiovascular risk factors and report a national prevalence of the metabolic syndrome among adolescents. Four percent of U.S. adolescents overall, and 29% of overweight teens, were found to have the metabolic syndrome. (See press release for more information.) The rise of childhood obesity has been linked to this cluster of cardio-metabolic complications known as metabolic syndrome, which include the following risk factors; excess abdominal obesity, abnormal cholesterol levels, elevated blood pressure and impaired glucose metabolism. The metabolic syndrome is strongly associated with insulin resistance, a precursor to adult type diabetes, and made worse by the current obesity epidemic among our nation’s children. Numerous adult studies have found the metabolic syndrome to be strongly associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In addition, we were the first to demonstrate an independent association between increased tobacco exposure, second hand smoke exposure and active smoking, and increases in the metabolic syndrome and its components. See "Tobacco smoke exposure increases risk of metabolic syndrome in teens"