Sex differences in the association between level of childhood interleukin-6 and insulin resistance in adolescence

Copyright © 2012 Anna Bugge et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.The purpose of this study was to determine whether levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in childhood are related to insulin resistance in adolescence. Further, to explore how fatness and cardiorespiratory fitness ( V O 2 p e a k ) moderate this relationship. Methods. 292 nine-year-old children ( = 2 9 2 ) were followed for 4 years. Anthropometrics and V O 2 p e a k were measured. Fasting blood samples were analyzed for IL-6, insulin, and glucose. Homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR) was used as a measure of insulin resistance. Results. For girls but not boys, levels of IL-6 at age 9 yrs correlated with HOMA-IR at age 13 yrs: = 0 . 2 2 3 , = 0 . 0 0 8 . Girls with IL-6 levels within the highest quartile at age 9 yrs had an odds ratio of 3.68 (CI = 1.58–8.57) being in the highest quartile of HOMA-IR four years later. Conclusion. In this cohort, IL-6 levels in childhood were related to insulin resistance in adolescence, but only for girls