Usha Sethuraman, M.D., has secured a Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation Investigator Initiated Program Grant to research a screening method that could detect childhood health problems earlier.

Dr. Sethuraman, an assistant professor in the Division of Emergency Medicine, Caman & Ann Adams Department of Pediatrics, at the Wayne State University School of Medicine, will use the $70,130 grant to study the efficacy of waist circumference to Body Mass Index in screening for metabolic syndrome in children seen in the emergency department. If the study is successful, children could then receive early treatment to curtail future health problems.

“Adult studies have shown that the waist circumference is a better predictor of presence of metabolic syndrome – the constellation of risk factors for heart disease that includes hypertension, high cholesterol and impaired glucose metabolism,” said Dr. Sethuraman. “We hope to find that waist circumference is a better and more accurate tool for screening for metabolic syndrome in children too. If we find that the waist circumference is indeed more accurate, we hope to introduce its routine measurement in the emergency department, screen the children, and then refer those children with a high waist circumference to a multidisciplinary center for early intervention and treatment.”

This is Dr. Sethuraman’s first grant for this study.