New Tool for Assessing Glucose Impairment in Teens

Impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) is a state of abnormally high blood sugar related with insulin resistance and increased threat of heart diseases.

Childhood obesity is linked with an increased threat for diabetes type 2. Identification of impaired fasting glucose in adolescents can result in better intervention and evaluation of impaired glucose level.

Besides body mass index (BMI), the tool for the assessment of glucose impairment (TAG-IT) for adolescents (TAG-IT-A) is an easy screening test for identifying deranged fasting glucose levels in adolescents.

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Katrina D. DuBose, PhD, of East Carolina University in Greenville, NC, and colleagues evaluated data from 3,050 adolescents in the age group of 12-18 years in order to validate the effectiveness of TAG-IT-A. These volunteers have formerly participated in National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) in 1999-2008.

The data was evaluated to determine whether the values recorded fasting glucose >100mg/dL.

The experts noticed that gender, age, body mass index and resting heart rate are important indicators of impaired fasting glucose in adolescents.

Body Mass Index
The BMI calculator helps you assess your weight indicating if it is normal or if you are underweight or overweight, based on your height.

TAG-IT when compared with body mass index was found to be a better indicator of impaired fasting glucose.

Katrina said, “The TAG-IT-A tool is a simple measure that uses variables that can be obtained in community settings, and it is modestly better than BMI alone in predicting risk for impaired fasting glucose."

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It was concluded that TAG-IT-A score is an easy and simple screening tool that can be used to identify impaired fasting glucose in adolescents.

An important point noted was that longitudinal studies are required to determine whether adolescents with high TAG-IT-A are prone to develop diabetes type 2 in their adulthood.

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Childhood obesity is one of the most serious health challenges in the developing countries and needs to be understood and tackled effectively.

Reference:
Development and Validation of a Tool for Assessing Glucose Impairment in Adolescents; Katrina DuBose et al; Preventive Chronic Diseases 2012

Source-Medindia