OBJECTIVE: To evaluate biochemical and physiological variables in overweight/obese and normal body weight female adolescents and assess whether cardiovascular risk factors, postulated as components of the metabolic syndrome, are already present in this age group. METHODS: Cross-sectional study comparing all girls aged between 12 and 18 years from a highschool in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil. Girls were divided in two groups: overweight/obese (n=30) and control (n=39). The following were evaluated: weight, height, skinfolds, circumferences of the abdomen and hip and biochemical parameters (glucose, insulin, lipid profile, urea, creatinine, fibrinogen, PAI-1, ferritin, sodium and microalbuminuria). RESULTS: Overweight and obese girls had higher levels of blood pressure, glucose, triglycerides, uric acid, PAI-1, fibrinogen and insulin, and lower HDL cholesterol compared with the control group. The analysis of risk factors clusters showed that 76.7% of adolescents from the overweight/obese group had two or more risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome, while 79.5% of the adolescents in the control group had one or none risk factors. Microalbuminuria and serum ferritin did not show differences between groups. CONCLUSION: Overweight/obese female adolescents already have hypertension, dyslipidemia, disfibrinolisys, hyperinsulinemia and clusters of cardiovascular risk factors.
obesity; hyperinsulinism; insulin; metabolic syndrome X; cardiovascular diseases; adolescent
