Relationship between anthropometric and biochemical profiles in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between anthropometric and biochemical variables in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM1).Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 11 children and 43 adolescents with DM1. The following data were collected: socioeconomic and demographic (age, sex, education, income), clinical (insulin therapy), anthropometric (weight, height, skinfolds, waist circumference - WC) and biochemical variables (glycated hemoglobin - HbA, casual blood glucose - CBG, post-prandial blood glucose - PPBG, and lipid profile). Statistical analysis included Student's t test (p<0.05) and Pearson's correlation (p<0.05). Results: The average income per capita was 0.58±0.39 times the monthly minimum wage and 72.2% of the sample were on insulin therapy consisting of three doses per day. Most individuals had adequate height (92.6%) and BMI (87.0%) for their ages. Subjects with an adequate HbA index (inHbA) had lower CBG (p=0.002) and PPBG (p<0.001). There were positive correlations between inHbA and WC (p=0.013), CBG (p=0.014), PPBG (p<0.001), triglycerides and VLDL-cholesterol (p<0.001).Conclusions: Poorer glycemic control is related to higher serum lipids levels and larger WC.