Supersize teens: the metabolic syndrome.

With obesity and type 2 diabetes on the rise in children and adolescents, there has been recent interest in the study of the metabolic (insulin resistance) syndrome in this population. Characteristics of the syndrome include impaired glucose tolerance, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and abdominal obesity. These features are known to cluster and convey increased cardiovascular risk over time. Screening of children and adolescents is important to the goal of prevention, and therapeutic lifestyle modification is the primary treatment modality. When this fails, pharmacotherapy aimed at the individual risk factors may be indicated.