A case of metabolic syndrome in an adolescent: diagnosis and management

The widespread of obesity in childhood is a rising cause of the development of metabolic syndrome, the prevalence of which is clearly increasing. The complexity of the frequent concurrence between metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes requires the therapeutic approach to be multidisciplinary and based on the stabilization of glycemia, monitoring of arterial pressure and of the lipid profile, and on the development of an appropriate hypocaloric diet and exercise plan. Moreover, the therapeutic objective of stablilizing glycemia may be achieved with the administration of metformin, the only oral hypoglycemic agent approved for type 2 diabetes children. We here describe a clinical case which highlights the complexities of the diagnostic approach.