prevalence of metabolic syndrome in an iranian adult population

abstract introduction: the clustering of several cardiovascular disease risk factors such as abdominal obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia and disturbances in glucose metabolism has been termed the metabolic syndrome (ms). the ms has been shown to predict cardiovascular disease (cvd) and diabetes. epidemiological studies have demonstrated that cvd is the main cause of worldwide mortality; they have also linked diabetes to an increased risk of mortality due to cvd. methods: according to the atp iii (adult treatment panel) reports, individuals having three or more of the following criteria are defined as having the ms: abdominal obesity (waist circumference > 102 cm in men and >88 cm in woman), hypertriglyceridemia (triglyceride ≥ 150 mg/dl), low high-density lipoprotein (hdl) cholesterol (hdl<40 mg/dl in men and <50 mg/dl in women), high fasting blood sugar (fbs) (fbs≥110 mg/dl) and high blood pressure (bp) (bp≥130/85 mmhg). the spss package (spss chicago il) was used and the significance level was set at p<0.05. results: overall, the age-adjusted prevalence of the ms was 25.4% and 21.7% in the urban and rural areas of isfahan, respectively. it was the highest among 50-59-year-old rural isfahani women (68.9%) and the lowest among rural araki men (5.6%). discussion: we found approximately 21.9% of iranian adults living in central iran to have the ms. in summary, this study showed an increasing risk of the ms among middleaged woman in urban areas owing to their physical quality of life. the results indicate that primary prevention should not only consider biological risk factors, but also take account of sociodemographic variables to identify individuals at high risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. keywords • metabolic syndrome • atpiii • prevalence • iran