'Standard' Glucose Test May Be Wrong One for Obese Children (HealthDay)

SUNDAY, June 15 (HealthDay News) -- The current standardscreening test for prediabetes in children often fails to detect thecondition, Canadian researchers contend.

Ironically, the findings are from a study group of 172 obesechildren -- ages 5 to 17 -- who joined a program to help them slim down toa healthy weight.

The standard diabetes test for children is the fasting plasma (blood)glucose test, but it identified almost three times fewer children withdiabetes than the glucose stress test, also called the oral glucosetolerance test. The glucose stress test takes longer, because blood istaken from the patient after fasting and again two hours after drinking asugary solution.

Using the fasting blood glucose test, the researchers found that only 8percent of the children in the study met the diagnostic criteria forprediabetes. But the glucose stress test indicated that 25 percent of thechildren had prediabetes.

"A large proportion of the children with prediabetes would not have hadtheir condition recognized," lead author Dr. Katherine Morrison, of thepediatrics department at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada,said in a prepared statement.

The researchers also found the fasting blood glucose test identifiedmetabolic syndrome in only 5.2 percent of the children, while the glucosestress test detected metabolic syndrome in 12.8 percent of the children.Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of risk factors (including high bloodsugar) for diabetes and heart disease.

The findings were expected to be presented over the weekend at theEndocrine Society's annual meeting in San Francisco.

"Prediabetes and metabolic syndrome are common in obese children butare not readily identified with the currently recommended test. Theyrequire a glucose stress test," Morrison said.

Prediabetes and metabolic syndrome often cause no obvious symptoms, sheadded. Early detection is important, because changes in diet, regularexercise and moderate weight loss can help prevent or delay diabetes andmetabolic syndrome.

Added time, inconvenience and cost are among the reasons why theglucose stress test isn't typically used in children.

"But this research suggests that the recommended test for screeningobese children for prediabetes and metabolic syndrome should be changed,"Morrison said.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and KidneyDiseases has more about .