The objective of the SOLAR (Study of Latino Adolescents at Risk) Diabetes Project, DK 59211, is to evaluate factors contributing to insulin resistance and compensatory beta-cell function in overweight Hispanic children during pubertal growth and development, and to examine mechanisms underlying changes in insulin action, insulin secretion and beta-cell function in the progression of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular risk during this critical period. This longitudinal study directed by Dr. Goran addresses a critical adolescent health problem in overweight Latino children and may lay the foundation for prevention strategies. The wealth of information obtained during the four years has helped us to better understand factors contributing to glucose regulation in overweight Hispanic children and has served as the basis for reformulating some of our hypotheses and research directions, leading us to the objectives of the current application. Based on observations of the SOLAR study, we reported 9 out of 10 children had at least 1 risk factor for cardiovascular disease and/or type 2 diabetes, 30% had clustering of 3 or more risk factors (i.e. metabolic syndrome), and the extent of the metabolic syndrome was related to insulin resistance. Based on these observations, the current application's long-term objective is to examine the relationship between the metabolic syndrome and development of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease progression. To this end,, we are measuring intima media thickness of the common carotid artery via B-mode ultrasonography, a non-invasive marker of early atherosclerosis.
The specific aims of the application are: 1) To determine the associations in adiposity and metabolic parameters by CCA-IMT measurement in a cross-sectional sample of overweight Latino adolescents, 2) To assess the longitudinal changes in adiposity and metabolic risk that could be contributory to early atherosclerosis, as measured by CCA-IMT, and 3) To examine the repeated measures of CCA-IMT with various measures of adiposity and metabolic risk.
The relevance of this study is to give public health professionals valuable and critical information regarding cardiovascular risks to an extremely high-risk adolescent population. This knowledge will then be utilized to either create effective interventions and/or to devise new clinical methodologies regarding cardiovascular evaluations on Latino overweight youth, thus improving health, concomitant with obesity and type 2 diabetes prevention.
