Metabolic Syndrome Among Adults in China: The 2010 China Noncommunicable Disease Surveillance.

CONTEXT

In China, data on the prevalence of metabolic syndrome have been rare recently.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its components in 2010.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: The study covered all 31 provinces of mainland China and consisted of a nationally representative population sample of 98,658 Chinese adults aged ≥18 years. Of these, 97,098 participants were eligible for the data analysis reported here.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Estimates of the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its components were calculated. To further explore whether metabolic syndrome is associated with the 10-year coronary heart disease risk, sex-stratified logistic regression models were used.

RESULTS

The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome was 33.9% (31.0% in men and 36.8% in women), which indicates that metabolic syndrome affects approximately 454 million adults in China. More than half of total adult population was suffering from low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and nearly half of participants had high blood pressure. Abdominal obesity and low HDL-C were more prevalent in women than in men, whereas high blood pressure, high blood glucose, and high triglycerides were more common in men. Metabolic syndrome was associated with a higher 10-year coronary heart disease risk after adjustment for potential risk factors and each component of metabolic syndrome as continuous variables.

CONCLUSION

Our results showed a high prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its components in the general adult population in mainland China. Metabolic syndrome was independently associated with a higher 10-year risk of developing coronary heart disease.