Criteria in the Diagnosis of Metabolic Syndrome in Children: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Currently, there is no consensus on the criteria for identifying metabolic syndrome in children, as observed in the diversity of research developed. For this reason, a scoping review was developed in this work, in order to compare the criteria for the diagnosis of metabolic syndrome (MetS) applied in children, described in observational, descriptive cross-sectional studies. The databases PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and the search engine Google Scholar were used. The search terms "metabolic syndrome", "cardiometabolic syndrome", "child", "children" and "childhood" were considered, as well as the names of organizations or authors proposing identification criteria for MetS to establish search relationships using the Boolean connectors "AND" and "OR". Likewise, two reviewers carried out the evaluation and selection of articles, of which 26 articles were included in which children aged 6 to 12 participated. It was found that the most commonly used criteria for identifying MetS since 2015 are those of Cook et al, IDF, NCEP ATPIII, and De Ferranti et al, in that order. Specific criteria, such as those proposed by Cook et al, are being chosen to enhance the accuracy of identifying MetS in children. The most common risk factors in children with MetS are abdominal circumference and BMI, followed by triglycerides, HDL, blood pressure, and blood glucose. The prevalence of MetS in children varies according to the criteria used, being higher with De Ferranti et al.

Complete Blood Count-Derived Inflammation Indexes Are Useful in Predicting Metabolic Syndrome in Children and Adolescents with Severe Obesity

“…of patients: 232/552) and fasting blood glucose levels (0.9%, no. of patients: 5/552) in our study closely matched those previously reported in the literature [4,12,50,[54][55][56][57].…”

“…Interestingly, a relatively low prevalence of increased triglycerides was found (9.2%, no. patients: 51/552), consistent with previous findings suggesting a low prevalence of this risk parameter in adolescents with MetS [50,53]. The prevalence of elevated blood pressure (42.0%, no.…”

“…The prevalence of MetS among children with obesity varies widely in the literature, with reported rates ranging from 10% to 66%, influenced by the criteria used for the assessment [50,51]. Consistent with these reports, our study found a MetS prevalence of 27.9% among adolescents with severe obesity.…”

“…The accurate assessment of MetS prevalence in children and adolescents with obesity remains challenging due to the lack of standardized criteria. This ambiguity has led to discrepancies in the reported MetS prevalence in different studies [50,51].…”

Nuevos enfoques en la detección de la enfermedad de síndrome metabólico mediante pruebas de laboratorio

“…Como se expuso, los criterios NCEP/ATP III fueron los más utilizados en los estudios analizados en la presente revisión, pero los puntos de corte no difirieron entre una población y otra. Pero en este punto es conveniente, mencionar que las adaptaciones realizadas por los autores antes citados tienen también como base los criterios NCEP/ATP III con lo cual se corrobora el hecho que estos son los métodos más empleados para estimar síndrome metabólico en la población general (57).…”