Background
Acanthosis Nigricans, which is a skin condition characterized by darkening and thickening of skin caused by papillomatosis and hyperkeratosis has been reported to be linked to insulin resistance and is thought to be a major factors in type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Objective
To determine whether the presence of acanthosis nigricans in obese children is related with insulin resistance.
Anzeige
Methods
We performed a cross sectional analytic observational study. One hundred twenty three obese children, ages 10 – 14 years with and without acanthosis nigricans got examined for insulin resistance using Homeostasis Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance Index (HOMA-IR). Diagnosis of acanthosis nigricans is confirmed by a dermatologist. This study took place in Wenang district, Manado, North Sulawesi from October 2009 until January 2010.
Results
Acanthosis nigricans was found positive in 33 children (61.1%). We found insulin resistance in 84.4% of obese children with acanthosis nigricans. There was a positive correlation between acanthosis nigricans and obese children with insulin resistance (r=0.568, p<0.001).
Conclusion
Children with acanthosis nigricans are more likely have insulin resistance. Therefore, we need to identify acanthosis nigricans in obese children for the possibility of diabetes mellitus type 2 so early intervention can be done.
This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.