Prevalence of metabolic syndrome in an elderly community: comparison between three diagnostic methods

The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome (MS) has shown wide variation in different studies, depending on the population sample and the diagnostic criteria used. The prevalence of MS tends to be higher with the diagnostic criteria of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF).

To compare the prevalence of MS using different criteria in an elderly community.

This was a cross-sectional population-based study conducted in the city of Novo Hamburgo - RS - Brazil, in which 378 elderly individuals, aged 60 years or over (252 women and 126 men) participated. The prevalence of MS was estimated using the National Cholesterol Education Program - Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATPIII) (2001), the revised NCEP ATPIII (2005) and the IDF diagnostic criteria.

The prevalence of MS increased progressively as we used the NCEP ATP III, the revised NCEP ATP III and the IDF criteria, with values of 50.3%, 53.4% and 56.9% respectively. The progressive increase in the prevalence of MS using the three criteria occurred in both genders, with a higher prevalence among women, with rates of 57.1%, 59.9% and 63.5% with the NCEP ATP III, the revised NCEP ATP III, and the IDF criteria, respectively.

The use of the IDF criteria resulted in a higher prevalence of MS in comparison to the prevalence found with the NCEP ATP III criteria and the revised NCEP ATP III criteria. The prevalence of MS was higher among women, regardless of the criteria used.