Context: Oxysterols represent potentially important oxidative stress biomarkers in adolescence.

Objective: To examine the relationship between the concentrations of serum enzymatically and non-enzymatically generated oxysterols and: (1) measures of obesity; and (2) metabolic components including insulin resistance, levels of blood pressure and serum lipids.

Design: Cross-sectional study

Setting: All subjects were examined between 2003 and 2005 at a hospital; a part of a follow-up evaluation mother-daughter pairs representing pregnancies affected or unaffected by gestational diabetes (GDM) that resulted in the deliveries in 1989–1991.

Subjects: A subset (n=89) of the total study population of 189 adolescent girls with a mean age of 15.32 ± 0.65 y and BMI: 22.54 ± 3.98 kg/m².

Main outcome measures: Serum levels of the oxysterols 7-hydroxy-cholesterol (7OH), 7-hydroxycholesterol (7OH), 7-ketocholesterol (7-keto); and body mass index (BMI), HOMA-IR, fasting insulin, fasting glucose, blood pressure, and total cholesterol, non-high density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), triglycerides and apolipoprotein B (ApoB).

Results: Serum oxysterol concentrations in the adolescent cohort correlated positively with insulin (p<0.05), total cholesterol (p<0.05), non-HDL-C (p<0.05), LDL-C (p<0.05) and ApoB (p<0.01). ApoB and fasting insulin were found to be the major determinants of serum oxysterols after adjustment for BMI. Being a daughter of GDM-pregnancy alone did not seem to be a predisposing factor to increased oxidative stress in our cohort.

Conclusion: Serum oxysterol concentrations increase with obesity, insulin and ApoB which are established derangements associated with the metabolic syndrome.