Metabolic syndrome: frequency and gender differences at an out - patient clinic

To determine the frequency of metabolic syndrome among patients attending an out-patient clinic of a teaching hospital and to compare the clinical features regarding metabolic syndrome among males and females.

Cross-sectional study.

Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), Executive and Family Medicine Clinics, from December 2004 to April 2005.

All adults, above 25 years, attending the clinics for an executive check-up and giving informed consent were included in the study. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire administered to those eligible to participate. Metabolic syndrome was defined according to ATP-III guidelines.

There were 250 participants in this study. Mean age of study participants was 48.94 (SD10.62) years, while approximately two-thirds, 157 (62.8%), were male. Metabolic syndrome (those who had 3 or more risk factors) was present in 35.2% of adults. Fasting blood sugar level was raised in 36.4% of study participants while significant number of participants (78.8%) had a body mass index (BMI) >or= 25 (p = 0.02).

Frequency of metabolic syndrome was significantly high in this study with preponderance of males and prevalence similar to that observed in developed countries. Majority of patients had obesity and high fasting blood sugar levels. Males demonstrated higher levels of triglycerides and low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) compared to females while blood pressure reading was observed to be the same in both males and females.