Blood sugar levels are higher in obese young children in Sweden than in Poland.

Aim: An elevated fasting glucose level is an early sign of metabolic dysfunction in obese children. This study compared fasting glucose levels in obese young children in Poland and Sweden.

Methods: We identified 109 obese children aged between two and 10 years from a Polish obesity register, with a mean BMI SDS (SD) of 3.72 (0.86). Each Polish child was matched by gender, age and degree of obesity, with ten children (n = 1090) from BORIS, the Swedish national childhood obesity treatment register. A group of 86 Swedish nonobese children served as controls.

Results: The mean fasting glucose values of the Polish, Swedish and nonobese cohorts were 4.73 (0.51) mmol/L, 4.92 (0.50) mmol/L and 4.56 (0.39) mmol/L, respectively. After adjusting for variables affecting fasting glucose, the mean glucose value of the Swedish obese children was 0.20 mmol/L higher than that of Polish obese children (p < 0.0001) and 0.41 mmol/L higher than in nonobese controls (p < 0.0001).

Conclusion: Swedish obese young children had higher glucose levels than Polish obese young children. This suggests that Swedish obese children face a higher risk of the prediabetic stage impaired fasting glycaemia.