By KRISTA CONGER

The researchers have recently initiated a two-year randomized trial to test whether the drug, metformin, can help overweight teens shed excess pounds — reducing their future risk of heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.

"There is some evidence that metformin causes weight loss in children with Type-2 diabetes," said Packard Children’s Hospital pediatric endocrinologist Darrell Wilson, MD. "Now we’re trying it in obese children without the disease."

Wilson, who is a professor of pediatrics at Stanford’s School of Medicine, is the study’s principal investigator.

As a diabetes treatment, metformin works by increasing the body’s sensitivity to insulin, which signals cells to remove sugar from the blood. It also decreases the manufacture of sugar by the liver and its absorption by the intestines.

The study, which is sponsored by the Glaser Pediatric Research Network, will be conducted at five sites across the country, including UC-San Francisco.

To be eligible, adolescents between age 13 and 17 must have a body mass index, or BMI, that exceeds the 95th percentile for their age and gender. Measurements like BMI take into account an individual’s height and weight.

Volunteers will be given a glucose tolerance test to ensure they don’t already have diabetes before being randomized into one of two groups.

For the first year, one group will receive metformin and the other will take a placebo. Both groups will also attend regular diet and exercise education classes. During the second year, researchers will follow the weight loss or gain in each group without medication.

The researchers are planning to enroll 75 patients: 15 at each of the five sites across the country.

Participants will receive some financial support to defray travel expenses incurred during 11 visits to Packard over the course of the study.

In addition to undergoing physical exams and answering questions about their health and diet, they will be asked to wear an activity monitor for five five-day stretches during the two years.

For more information about the study, call 724-7123 or 724-7119 or visit http://www.med.stanford.edu/dped/.

Links to the BMI-for-age growth charts for boys and girls age 2 to 20 can be found under "Clinical Growth Charts" at http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/.

Eating disorders clinic opens its doors offsite (4/30/03)

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital