Obesity, diabetes and their metabolic correlates in middle-aged adults with Down syndrome.
J A Luchsinger, D Pang, S J Krinsky-McHale and 4 others
PMID 37899501WHAT IT FOUND
In 143 middle-aged adults with Down syndrome, most had overweight or obesity, but few had pre-diabetes or diabetes.
Higher BMI was linked to higher leptin, not insulin or adiponectin.
Key findings
01In the 143 participants with blood samples, 46.9% were overweight and 27.3% were obese, while 9.8% had pre-diabetes and 6.9% had diabetes.
02Pre-diabetes was higher in overweight and obese categories, and leptin increased with BMI category, but BMI was not associated with diabetes, lipids, hsCRP, or adiponectin.
03Persons with pre-diabetes and diabetes had higher hsCRP and insulin, and persons with diabetes had lower LDL and non-HDL cholesterol.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The analysis was cross-sectional, so it describes associations at one time point rather than cause. Only 143 of 191 consented participants had blood samples, and the sample was limited to adults aged 45 years or older receiving services in New York. The study had no comparison group of adults without Down syndrome. Blood samples were not fasting, so triglycerides, insulin, and leptin were random levels and could bias some associations toward null. No blood pressure data were available, so hypertension and metabolic syndrome could not be assessed. No fasting glucose and insulin data were available, so a standard insulin resistance measure such as HOMA-IR could not be used. No waist-to-height ratio or other measure of central obesity was available, so BMI may not capture adiposity in this group. Medication use was recorded, but dose and duration were not, so medication effects cannot be fully accounted for. The association between pre-diabetes and dementia was based on few dementia cases.
Declared interests
The work was funded by the National Institutes of Health. The authors reported no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the high prevalence of overweight or obesity as evidence that these adults had the same adverse metabolic profile as the general population. The study had no comparison group, and BMI was not associated with diabetes, lipids, hsCRP, or adiponectin.