The relationship between serum-free insulin- like growth factor-1 and metabolic syndrome in school adolescents of northeast China

Abstract

Purpose

Free insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) ratio (the ratio of IGF-1/insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 [IGFBP-3]) was shown to be negatively correlated with metabolic syndrome (MetS) in adults, but it was unknown in Chinese adolescents.

Patients and methods

The cross-sectional study enrolled 701 healthy school students (aged 12–16 years, 46.1% females) and 93 of them (18–22 years old, 46.2% females) were followed after 5 years.

Results

In the cross-sectional study, the IGF-1/IGFBP-3 ratios were found correlated with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C; r= −0.071, P<0.05) and diastolic blood pressure (r= −0.077, P=0.034). A lower IGF-1/IGFBP-3 ratio was an independent risk factor for MetS (OR =2.348, 95% CI: 1.040–5.303), hypertension (OR=1.729, 95% CI: 1.040–5.303), and increased LDL-C (OR=1.841, 95% CI: 1.230–2.755). In the follow-up study, all the participants were >18 years old. We found a lower baseline ratio of IGF-1/IGFBP-3 in adolescence was an independent risk factor for MetS in adulthood (OR=10.724, 95% CI: 1.032–11.403) and also indicated a higher body mass index (β=−1.361, 95% CI: −2.513 to −0.208) after 5 years.

Conclusion

The lower IGF-1/IGFBP-3 ratio was an independent risk factor for MetS, hypertension, and high LDL-C in adolescents of northeast China and was also a predictive marker for MetS and increased body mass index in the adulthood.

Keywords:

• IGF-1
• IGFBP-3
• adolescent
• metabolic syndrome

Supplementary Materials

Table S1 Comparison of clinical characteristics between the follow-up group and the non-follow-up group

Table S2 Partial correlation between IGF-1/IGFBP-3 ratio level and risk factors for cardiovascular disease in follow-up group

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to all children and their parents for participating in this study. This work was supported by Fund for young scientists of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 81600644).

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.