A recent study published in the American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology has suggested that arterial stiffness may be a previously unidentified risk factor for metabolic syndrome in teenagers. The study found that arterial stiffness in adolescents, measured by carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, could be linked to metabolic syndrome in young adulthood, potentially leading to insulin resistance and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. The World Health Organization defines metabolic syndrome as the presence of at least three of the following medical conditions: abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, high fasting glucose, high fasting triglyceride, and low fasting high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome among middle-aged adults in the US is 30%, increasing to 50% among adults over the age of 60. Improving diet and increasing physical activity could be effective ways of reducing the risk of high fasting insulin or insulin resistance and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in adolescents.
