Prevalence of metabolic syndrome in the indigenous population, aged 19 to 69 years, from Jaguapiru Village, Dourados (MS), Brazil.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in an indigenous Brazilian population. METHODS Indigenous Brazilians aged 18-69 years from Jaguapiru Village, Dourados, MS were studied. Participants were selected by simple random sampling of 360 houses in the village. The abdominal circumference of the population was evaluated, and measurements <80 cm for females or <90 cm for males were considered normal. Capillary blood glucose levels by glucometer and oral glucose tolerance tests were measured, and, when necessary, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels were assessed. RESULTS Of the 632 indigenous Brazilians in the study, 281 were males. We observed that 287 (45.4%) presented abdominal circumference values greater than normal; of those, 199 were women (43.4% of all women in the study) and 88 were men (26.1% of all men in the study). CONCLUSION Metabolic syndrome is common in the Indian Jaguapiru Village.