Aim: To determine the prevalence of paediatric metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its best predictive anthropometric index.
Methods: This national study was conducted among 4811 students (2248 boys and 2563 girls) aged 6-18 y. This is the first study of its kind in Iran and, to our knowledge, in Asia as well. Two definitions were used for the MetS: type A was defined based on criteria analogous to ATP III, and type B was defined according to the cut-offs obtained from NHANES III. Both types A and B define high fasting blood sugar as > 100 mg/dl and systolic/diastolic blood pressure as > 90th percentile.
Results: The mean (SD) age of students studied was 12.07+/-3.2 y. MetS type A was seven times more prevalent than type B (14% vs 2%, respectively, p<0.0001), and had no significant gender difference. The most frequent components of both definitions of the MetS were low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and high triglyceride (TG). Waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) had the strongest and weakest associations, respectively, with the MetS.
Conclusion: Establishment of a uniform set of criteria for the MetS in children is needed. Routine WC measurement in the paediatric population may be clinically useful.