Socio-economics status and metabolic syndrome: A meta-analysis

The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is responsible for an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and is associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. Economic and social vulnerability is not an easy concept to grasp, but some studies investigate the association between MetS and socioeconomic and demographic factors, deprivation (more often correlations rather than causal one due to data). This work aims to assess the association between MetS and socio-economic gradient (SEG) in the literature by performing a meta-analysis.

The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement for systematic reviews were followed.

The raw list of studies extracted from PubMed as regard to the inclusion/exclusion criteria was imported in Word. Studies were filed with regard to our three definitions of SEG and their title.

Subgroup analysis were performed considering several definitions of Mets: NCEP-ATPIII and IDF2006.

The overall multivariable-adjusted OR showed that the risk of MetS was significantly increased in association with SEG The results of the subgroup analysis showed an increased risk of MetS in association with SEG when IDF definition was considered.

Targeted interventions must be implemented in a specific way as prevention campaigns aimed at the general population are generally not adapted to this particular vulnerable population.