prevalence of metabolic syndrome among iranian population: a systematic review and meta-analysis

background: metabolic syndrome (mets) is the major risk factor for development of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases in different populations. the aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of mets among iranian population. methods: thirty-four cross-sectional studies were analyzed with a sample of 83227 people. national and international english electronic databases (pubmed, google scholar, web of science, science direct, and scopus) and persian language databases (sid, medlib, iran medex, magiran, medlib, and irandoc) were used to search the articles published on mets in iranian population from jan 2005 to may 2016. the mets diagnosis was performed according to the atp-iii, ncep/atp-iii, idf and who criteria. results: the overall weighted prevalence of mets was 31% (95% ci: 28-35). according to atp iii criteria, total and gender - stratified prevalence of mets in women and men were 29% (95% ci: 22-36), 37% (95% ci: 26-48) and 29% (95% ci: 23-36), respectively. total prevalence of mets based on ncep/atp iii criteria was 29% (95% ci: 24-35) that the prevalence was 24% (95% ci: 18-30) and 35% (95% ci: 25-44) in men and women, respectively. according to the idf and who criteria, total prevalence of mets were 38% (95% ci: 32-43) and 30% (95% ci: 7-53), respectively. conclusion: the findings demonstrate an emerging high prevalence of mets in total and in particular among iranian women population. therefore, to minimize the risk of cardiovascular events in iranian population, screening and early detection of risk factors for mets are required.