Search

Aims To investigate the association between early menarche (menarche age < 12 years) and Type 2 diabetes mellitus in young and middle-aged Korean women. Methods We analysed data for 4657 women aged 20-50 years from the Fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey ( KNHANES IV) (2007-2009). Results The prevalence of Type 2 diabetes was 2.8%. Women with early menarche had a higher prevalence of impaired fasting glucose than did women with later menarche (age ≥ 12 years) in the 20-30 age group (7.4% vs. 3.0%), and a higher prevalence of diabetes in the 30-40 (6.3% vs. 1.7%) and 40-50 (18.5% vs. 4.4%) age groups. The odds ratio ( OR) of Type 2 diabetes in women with early menarche was 3.61 [95% confidence interval ( CI), 1.90-6.88] after adjusting for age. In multivariate regression, the OR of Type 2 diabetes decreased to 2.52 (95% CI, 1.29-4.94) after further adjusting for BMI. However, the OR decreased to 2.04 (95% CI, 0.95-4.39) without significance after adjusting for HOMA- IR. Conclusions Early menarche increased the risk of Type 2 diabetes in young and middle-aged Korean women although adulthood adiposity attenuated the relationship. Knowledge of age at menarche is important in identifying women at risk for diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabet. Med. 29, e102-e105 (2012) Abstract Aims Childhood obesity is associated with an increased likelihood for having impaired glucose tolerance, dyslipidaemia and diabetes. The aim of the study was to evaluate HbA1c as a screening test for impaired glucose tolerance in obese children and adolescents and identify the optimal HbA1c threshold. Methods We studied 126 obese and overweight children (BMI > 85th percentile for age and gender) 4-17 years of age referred to the endocrine clinic at Ajou University Hospital in Korea. All subjects underwent HbA1c and oral glucose tolerance test. Results Thirty-four patients (27%) out of 126 had impaired glucose tolerance. Silent diabetes was diagnosed in 10 adolescents (7.9%). Based on the receiver operating characteristic curve, the optimal cut point of HbA1c related to impaired glucose tolerance diagnosed by oral glucose tolerance test was 40 mmol/mol (5.8%), which was associated with a 64.7% sensitivity and 61.6% specificity, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.651 (95% CI 0.529-0.772). Conclusions Obesity is associated with an increased risk of impaired glucose tolerance. An HbA1c value of 40 mmol/mol (5.8%) should be used as a screening tool to identify children and adolescents with impaired glucose tolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]