PROBLEM STATEMENT OF METABOLIC SYNDROME

With the formulation of NCEP/ATP III guidelines some uniformity and standardization has occurred in the definition of metabolic syndrome and has been very useful for epidemiological purposes. At present, metabolic syndrome is an all or none diagnosis. The study results based on third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), indicate that approximately one fourth of the US adults 20 years or older meet the diagnostic criteria for metabolic syndrome. The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome depends on age, ethnic background, and gender. It rises linearly from 20 to 50 years and plateaus thereafter. Looking at various studies around the world, which included population samples, aged from 20 to 25 and upwards, the prevalence varies from 8% (India) to 24% (United States) in men and from 7% (France) to 46% (India) in women. Metabolic syndrome prevalence rates as described earlier vary among ethnic groups as defined by the ATP III criteria among Finnish and Native American men. These studies involved subjects with comparable age ranges (42-60 and 44-49 years, respectively), with the Finnish study showing prevalence of only 14% compared with the prevalence in the Native American study of 43.6%. The prevalence varies from a low of 13.9% in black men to a high of 27.2% in Mexican American women