Clustering of cardiometabolic risk factors in Mexican pre-adolescents

To examine clustering of cardiometabolic markers in Mexican children at age 11 years and compare a metabolic syndrome (MetS) score to an exploratory cardiometabolic health (CMH) score.

We used data from children enrolled in the POSGRAD birth cohort with cardiometabolic data available (n = 413). We used principal component analysis (PCA) to derive a Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) score and an exploratory cardiometabolic health (CMH) score, which additionally included adipokines, lipids, inflammatory markers, and adiposity. We assessed reliability of individual cardiometabolic risk as defined by MetS and CMH by calculating % agreement and Cohen's kappa statistic.

At least one cardiometabolic risk factor was present in 42 % of study participants; the most common risk factors were low High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (31.9 %) and elevated triglycerides (18.2 %). Measures of adiposity and lipids explained the most variation in cardiometabolic measures for both MetS and CMH scores. Two-thirds of individuals were categorized in the same risk category by both MetS and CMH scores (κ = 0.42).

MetS and CMH scores capture a similar amount of variation. Additional follow-up studies comparing predictive abilities of MetS and CMH scores may enable improved identification of children at risk for cardiometabolic disease.