Diet Quality and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Adolescents with Down Syndrome

Youth with Down syndrome (DS) have a high prevalence of obesity and dyslipidemia. Diet quality may influence cardiometabolic risk (CMR) in youth.

The aim of this secondary analysis was to investigate the relationship between diet quality (Healthy Eating Index [HEI-2015]) with CMR factors in youth with DS compared with age, sex, race, ethnicity, and body mass index percentile matched, typically developing controls.

Adolescents (aged 10 to 20 years) with DS and controls of comparable age, sex, race, ethnicity, and body mass index percentile were recruited from 2012 to 2017 for a cross-sectional study from two large children's hospitals (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Children's National Health System in Washington, DC).

CMRs in 143 adolescents with DS were compared with 100 controls. Exclusion criteria consisted of major organ-system illnesses.

The average of three 24-hour dietary recalls was used to calculate the HEI-2015. Anthropometrics, blood pressure, and fasting labs were collected.

Group differences were tested using Wilcoxon rank-sum tests. Relationships of CMR factors with HEI-2015 score within DS and controls were tested using linear regression models adjusted for sex, age, race, and body mass index z score.

Compared with controls (n = 100, median age = 14.8 years [interquartile range = 12.2 to 17.3 years]; 41% male; 24% African American; 65% with body mass index ≥85th percentile), adolescents with DS (n = 143, median age = 14.7 years [interquartile range = 11.4 to 17.4 years]; 44% male; 18% African American; 62% with body mass index ≥85th percentile) had higher scores (more aligned with dietary recommendations) for total HEI-2015 (DS: 52.7 [interquartile range = 46.8 to 58.6] vs controls: 45.1 [interquartile range = 39.5 to 55.0]; P < 0.0001). Youth with DS also had higher HEI-2015 component scores for fruits, greens/beans, dairy, refined grains, and saturated fats, but lower whole grains and sodium scores. Within the group with DS, total HEI-2015 was not significantly associated with CMR measures. Whereas HEI-2015 in the DS group was negatively associated with fasting glucose levels, the difference did not meet the set level of statistical significance (-0.14, 95% CI -0.29 to 0.00; P = 0.053).

Adolescents in both the control and DS groups reported low-quality diets, although the DS group had HEI-2015 scores more closely aligned with recommendations. In the DS group, diet quality was not significantly associated with CMR factors. Although further research is needed, these results suggest that dyslipidemia in youth with DS may not be related to dietary intake.