Abstract

Objectives. We determine the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in an urban population of Zanjan, a province located to the west of Tehran. Methods. Randomly selected adults > 20 years were studied using stratified sampling. Target study sample was 2941 (1396 males and 1545 females). Metabolic syndrome was diagnosed using Adult Treatment Panel-III (ATP-III) guidelines when any three of the following were present: central obesity, raised triglycerides >= 150 mg/dl, low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, blood pressure >= 130/ >= 85mm Hg, and diabetes or fasting plasma glucose (FPG) >= 100 mg/dl. Results. Metabolic syndrome was present in 697 (23.7%) subjects (CI 95%:22%-25%, P=.001), prevalence was 23.1% in men and 24.4% in women (P :.4). The prevalence increased from 7.5% in the population younger than 30 y to 45.6% in ages more than 50 years. Low HDL was the most common metabolic abnormality in both sexes. Most of those with metabolic syndrome had three components of the syndrome (75.6%), 170 subjects (24.4%) had four and none had five components simultaneously. The prevalence of obesity (BMI >= 30 kg/m(2)), hypercholesterolemia (>= 200 mg/dl) and high LDL cholesterol (>= 130 mg/dl) was greater in the metabolic syndrome group than normal subjects (P=.00). Conclusions. There is a high prevalence of metabolic syndrome in this urban population of the northern west of Iran. Focus of cardiovascular prevention should be undertaken in this area. Copyright (C) 2009 F. Sharifi et al.