Metabolic Syndrome: Statistics

Adolescents

The prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) among 12–19-year-old US adolescents was estimated in an analysis of NHANES III data, by applying a modification of the ATP III definition (Third Report of the National Cholesterol Education Program [NCEP] Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults [ATP III, NHLBI]) for adults. MetS during adolescence was defined as 3 or more of the following abnormalities:
—Serum triglyceride level of 110 mg/dL or higher.
—High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol level of 40 mg/dL or lower.
—Elevated fasting glucose of 110 mg/dL or higher.
—Blood pressure at or above the 90th percentile for age, sex and height.
—Waist circumference at or above the 90th percentile for age and sex (NHANES III data set)

An estimated 1 million 12–19-year-old adolescents in the United States have MetS, or 4.2% overall (6.1% of males and 2.1% of females).

–Of adolescents with MetS, 73.9% were overweight and 25.2% were at risk of overweight.
–The mean BMI of adolescents with the MetS (30.1%) was just above the 95th percentile of the CDC Growth Chart; thus they are likely to represent a fairly common clinical problem in pediatrics.
–MetS was present in 28.7% of overweight adolescents (BMI 95th percentile of CDC Growth Chart) compared with 6.8% of at-risk-of-overweight adolescents, and 0.1% of those with BMI below the 85th percentile (P<0.001).
–Among adolescents with MetS, 40.9% had 1 criterion; 14.2% had 2 criteria; 4.2% had 3 criteria and 0.9% had 4 criteria for MetS. For overweight adolescents, 88.5% had 1 criterion; 54.4% had 2 criteria; 28.7% had 3 criteria and 5.8% had 4 criteria for MetS.

• Among more than 3400 children examined in 1 study, 1 in 10 had MetS.
• Using a sample of adolescents from NHANES III, the overall prevalence of MetS was 38.7% in moderately obese subjects and 49.7% in severely obese subjects. The prevalence of MetS in severely obese black subjects was 39%.
  

Adults

People with MetS are at increased risk for developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease as well as increased mortality from CVD and all causes. Unless otherwise stated, the following data are based on the definition of the metabolic syndrome as determined in the Third Report of the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (ATP III, NHLBI).

• An estimated 47 million US residents have MetS.
• The age-adjusted prevalence of MetS for adults is 23.7%.
  –The prevalence ranges from 6.7% among people ages 20–29 to 43.5% for ages 60–69 and 42.0% for those age 70 and older.
  –The age-adjusted prevalence is similar for men (24.0%) and women (23.4%).
  –Mexican Americans have the highest age-adjusted prevalence of MetS (31.9%). The lowest prevalence is among whites (23.8%), African Americans (21.6%) and people reporting an "other" race or ethnicity (20.3%).
  –Among African Americans, women had about a 57% higher prevalence than men. Among Mexican Americans, women had a 26% higher prevalence than men did.
• The prevalences of people with MetS are 24.3%, 13.9% and 20.8 % for white, black and Mexican-American men, respectively. For women the percentages are 22.9, 20.9 and 27.2, respectively.
• In a study of over 15 000 men and women, ages 45–64, in the ARIC study, MetS prevalence was 30% and 27% using ATP III and modified WHO definitions with substantial variation across race and gender subgroups. CHD prevalence was greater in those with than without MetS (ATP III 7.4% versus 3.6%; WHO 7.8% versus 3.6%, both P<0.0001).>

Circulation. 2006;113:e85-e151. © 2006 American Heart Association, Inc.