Hypertension and hypercholesterolemia aggregate in nondiabetic children and adolescents with higher fasting plasma glucose levels

Objective: To investigate how hypertension and hypercholesterolemia aggregate at different fasting plasma glucose (FPG) levels in children aged 6-16 yr. Research design and methods: In a nationwide survey conducted between 1992 and 2000, all schoolchildren aged 6-18 yr with abnormal results in repeated urine samples were included. In this study, we recruited 27 535 students aged 6- to 16-yr whose FPG levels were 90-125 mg/dL. Another 17 907 children were randomly selected as control from schoolchildren with FPG < 90 mg/dL by stratification to reflect the age- and sex-specific proportion of the whole student population. Results: The risk of having hypertension or hypercholesterolemia increased at FPG level above 90 mg/dL compared with children with FPG < 90 mg/dL [6-10 yr, odd ratios (OR) = 1.51 and 1.82 for FPG 90-99 and 100-125 mg/dL for girls, OR = 1.35 and 2.03 for FPG 90-99 and 100-125 mg/dL for boys; 10-16 yr, OR = 1.24 and 1.66 for FPG 90-99 and 100-125 mg/dL for girls, OR = 1.17 and 1.41 for FPG 90-99 and 100-125 mg/dL for boys, all p < 0.05]. The risk of having both hypertension and hypercholesterolemia elevated at FPG 100-125 mg/dL (6-10 yr, OR = 2.76 for girls and 2.75 for boys; 10-16 yr, OR = 2.19 for girls and 1.74 for boys, all p < 0.05). Conclusions: Aggregation of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and abnormal glycemia was found at FPG level above 100 mg/dL, which supported the definition of abnormal glycemia in metabolic syndrome by the International Diabetes Federation in 10- to 16-yr-old children. These findings also suggest that this FPG cutoff is reasonable for 6- to 10-yr-old children.