AAP counsels pediatricians to focus on clusters of cardiometabolic risk factors to help obese kids
"In so many areas of medicine, we find that strategies designed for adults simply do not meet the unique needs of children and adolescents," says Sheela N. Magge, M.D., M.S.C.E., F.A.A.P., director of research in Children's National Health System's Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes, and lead author of the study published July 24 in Pediatrics . "Rather than focusing on specific cut-off levels of risk factors or whether a child's condition fits a particular definition of metabolic syndrome, we propose that pediatricians look for youth with multiple component risk factors, such as high blood sugar, hypertension, obesity and abnormal lipid levels. These children should be targeted for more intensive intervention efforts." Since the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III coined the term "metabolic syndrome" (MetS) in 2001 to describe a cluster of factors that leave adults at higher risk for developing diabetes a...