Homeostasis Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance in Obese Children as A Predictor for Metabolic Syndrome

Background: Obesity has emerged as one of the most serious public health concerns in the 21st century. HOMAIR scores are useful indicators of insulin resistance for research purposes. Objectives: This study was aimed to evaluate HOMA-IR for insulin resistance in obese children, to correlate between HOMA-IR and metabolic syndrome in obese children and also to assess relation between insulin resistance and morbidity. Subjects and Methods: This cross-sectional study included a total of ninety overweight and obese children, aged 4-8 years, attending at El-Zahraa University Hospital and National Institute of Nutrition. This study was conducted between from January 2018 to January 2019. All studied children were subjected to anthropometric measurement, blood pressure measuring, skin finding as acanthosis nigricans. Lab investigations including measurement of HBA1C, fasting serum glucose, total cholesterol, HDL-C, LDL-C, triglycerides and insulin were done. Results: Mean and median values of HOMA-IR were significantly higher among patients with large birth weight than low and average birth weight and among patients with positive family history of obesity than negative ones. Participants illustrated a significant positive correlations between HOMA-IR and weight and BMI, SBP, DBP and serum cholesterol Conclusion: It could be concluded that homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance index HOMA-IR in obese children is increased with increased body mass index, waist circumference systolic, diastolic blood pressure, serum cholesterol, LDL-C, large birth weight, patients with positive family history of obesity and among patients with acanthosis nigricans.