Introduction: The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) has recently proposed new criteria to define metabolic syndrome (MS). The aim of this study has been to determine the differences between these criteria and those of the classical National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Program III (NCEP-ATP III). We have also aimed to determine whether our previous description of hepatic disorders in MS patients would be confirmed in a larger sample of patients and whether there were any differences between these and other variables when applying the two diagnostic criteria.
Material and methods: A sample of 866 patients from a cardiovascular risk unit was studied, recording biomedical and analytical variables.
Results and discussion: Total prevalence of MS was similar for both definitions, however the SM identified population did not match in a significant percentage of patients (11%). There were also differences between genders: MS was more frequent in males using IDF criteria, but more frequent in females with ATP III criteria. The following was found when both types of criteria were related with the different quantitative variables analyzed: there was an increase in albuminuria (p = 0.038) in the ATP III MS patients while the IDF MS patients had a significant increase in ALT (p = 0.026) and ALT/AST ratio (p < 0.016).
Conclusion: Further studies are needed to evaluate which of the two criteria are more useful for the prevention of future cardiovascular events.