OBJECTIVE:

To examine cross-sectional differences in insulin sensitivity, insulin secretion and β-cell function during puberty in overweight Hispanic boys and girls with a family history of type 2 diabetes.

STUDY DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS:

This cross-sectional, observational study included 214 8–13-y-old Hispanic children with a BMI percentile≥ 85th percentile and family history of type 2 diabetes.

METHODS AND ANALYSES:

Participants underwent a physical examination, body composition measures, oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), and frequently-sampled intravenous glucose tolerance test. Unadjusted and adjusted general linear models (GLM) tested whether insulin/glucose dynamics differed by Tanner stage and gender.

RESULTS:

Unadjusted group comparisons showed that fasting insulin increased whereas insulin sensitivity (SI) and the disposition index (DI)(a measure of pancreatic β-cell function) decreased across Tanner stage groups (all P< 0.05). No differences in the acute insulin response to glucose (AIRg), fasting glucose or 2-h glucose were found. After adjusting for covariates, there was no independent effect of Tanner stage on SI (P= 0.9) or AIRg (P= 0.2), but DI was slightly lower in later Tanner stages suggesting decreased β-cell function in the more mature groups (P= 0.10).

CONCLUSIONS:

Overweight Hispanic children with a family history of type 2 diabetes may represent a unique population given that pubertal insulin resistance was not evident once analyses controlled for body composition. Longitudinal analyses are required to determine whether the slightly diminished β-cell function in later Tanner stages plays a role in the development of type 2 diabetes.