263605 Using A School-Based Health Screening Program to Inform Knowledge of Pediatric Insulin Resistance

Monday, October 29, 2012 : 1:30 PM - 1:45 PM

Lesley A. Cottrell, PhD , Department of Pediatrics, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV
Karen L. Northrup, RN, MS , MIS, Wood County Schools, Parkersburg, WV
Richard A. Wittberg, PhD , Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department, Parkersburg, WV
Jennifer Law, MD , Pediatrics, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, Winston Salem, NC
     
Background: Obesity is a substantial contributor to rising rates of insulin resistance but is not well understood among children. Insulin resistance is known to be a precursor to type 2 diabetes. Given the rising rates in childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes among children, screening would likely be beneficial. A universal school-based screening approach is ideal for gathering information about health risks among children but the costs and time burdens associated with this approach can be limiting.

Purpose: To consider results from a school-based cardiovascular screening program to characterize students who present with the Acanthosis Nigricans (AN) marker in terms of their height, weight, and BMI percentiles and by gender distinctions.

Significance: These findings are important for conceptualizing how a school-based screneing program can inform greater understanding of obesity and insulin resistance outcomes among children.

Methodology: Cross-sectional results from a universally-screened sample of 5,732 kindergarten and second grade students who participated in the school-based screening project -L.I.F.E. Project were used in this study. Student height, weight, and body mass index percentiles for age and gender were collected. Insulin resistance was measured based on the presence of pigmented skin at the base of the neck - AN.

Results: Children who presented with the AN marker had significantly greater heights (p<.001), weights (p<.001), and BMIs (p<.01) than children who did not have the marker (figures will be provided). Gender differences were also noted with boys (p<.001) having heavier weights than girls in both cohorts.

Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Chronic disease management and prevention
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
1. Describe and discuss a school-based screening approach to assessing childhood obesity and insulin resistance 2. Explain health characteristics of children who present with a pre-marker of insulin resistance compared to Acanthosis Nigricans (AN) to those who do not present with the marker. 3. Identify a position for school-based obesity risk screening and potential options for treatment.

Keywords: School Health, Screening

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been a co-investigator on research related to the LIFE screening program for over 5 years. Through my expertise as an obesity researcher, I have worked with school-based program evaluation to identify prevalence of children's health issues and to identify potential points to intervene and combat rising rates of obesity, diabetes, and asthma. I am the PI for the National Children's Study in Marion County, West Virginia. I am widely published in peer-reviewed journals.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3267.0: School Health Services: Chronic disease management