Original article
High prevalence of the metabolic syndrome among Northern Jordanians

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdiacomp.2005.11.003Get rights and content

Abstract

Background

The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome is rapidly increasing with a considerable ethnic variation within and across populations. This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome and its individual components using Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP III) criteria among Northern Jordanians.

Methods

Data were analyzed from a cross-sectional study that included a random sample of 1121 northern Jordanians aged 25 years and above. The metabolic syndrome was defined by ATP III criteria.

Results

The age-adjusted prevalence of the metabolic syndrome was 36.3% (95% CI 33.6–39.0%) (28.7% among men and 40.9% among women). The prevalence increased significantly with age in men and women. The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome was significantly higher in women than in men in age groups of 40–49 and 60 years and above. Low HDL cholesterol was the most common abnormality in men (62.7%), and abdominal obesity was the most common abnormality in women (69.1%).

Conclusions

Prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in North Jordan is considerably higher than in developed countries and other Arab populations. An integrated approach is needed for the prevention and treatment of the metabolic syndrome.

Introduction

The metabolic syndrome is essentially a group of interrelated metabolic risk factors that increase the risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and total mortality (Isomaa et al., 2001, Lakka et al., 2002). These factors include obesity, abnormal glucose metabolism, high blood pressure, and dyslipidemia (DeFronzo & Ferrannini, 1991). Although the pathogenesis of the syndrome is not completely understood, it is influenced by a complex interplay between multiple genetic variations interacting with numerous environmental factors (Liese et al., 1998, Reaven, 1988). The World Health Organization (WHO) initially proposed a definition for the metabolic syndrome in 1998 (Alberti & Zimmet, 1998). More recently, the Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP III) provided a new working definition of the metabolic syndrome (Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults, 2001).

The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome varies by definition used and population studied (Ford & Giles, 2003). The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome is rapidly increasing (Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults, 2001, Ford et al., 2002) with a considerable ethnic variation within and across populations (Araneta, Wingard, & Barrett-Connor, 2002). It is present in more than 20% of the US adult population (Park et al., 2003). In the United Kingdom the metabolic syndrome has also been increasingly recognized (The UK HDL-C Consensus Group, 2004) especially in South Asians (Kain, Catto, & Grant, 2003). A considerably high prevalence of the metabolic syndrome was reported in Turkey (Ozsahin et al., 2004), Asian Indian population (Ramachandran, Snehalatha, Satyavani, Sivasankari, & Vijay, 2003), and Iran (Azizi, Salehi, Etemadi, & Zahedi-Asl, 2003).

The metabolic syndrome is common among Arab populations in Mediterranean countries (Abdul-Rahim et al., 2001, Al-Lawati et al., 2003) and among Arab Americans (Jaber, Brown, Hammad, Zhu, & Herman, 2004). In Jordan, several studies (Ajlouni et al., 1998a, Ajlouni et al., 1998b, Batieha et al., 1997, Jaddou et al., 1996) have focused on estimating the population distribution of major risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and illustrated a high prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, impaired glucose metabolism, obesity, and hyperlipidaemia. However, studies on the clustering of such risk factors in Jordanian population in the form of the metabolic syndrome are not available. Therefore, this study aimed to estimate the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome and its individual components using Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP III) criteria among Northern Jordanians.

Section snippets

Study population and data collection

This survey was conducted in the town of Sarih in the north of Jordan to estimate the prevalence of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, obesity, and metabolic syndrome, and to determine their risk indicators. This town with about 3328 households and 19,227 residents (Department of Statistics 2002—Jordan) was selected because of the presence of a health center in which to perform the study and because of its proximity to the study team. A systematic sample of 550 households (every

Participant's characteristics

A total of 1121 participants (394 men and 727 women) aged 25 years and above had complete information for all components of the metabolic syndrome. The demographic, anthropometric, and metabolic characteristics of participants are depicted in Table 1, Table 2. Age of the subjects ranged from 25 to 85 years with a mean of 46.2±13.2 (±S.D.). About 52% of the subjects had less than high school education. Eighty-five percent (85.3%) were married and 7.7% were single. The average levels of waist and

Discussion

This study reported an estimate of the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome among Northern Jordanians aged 25 years and above. Using the ATP III diagnostic criteria, we found that the age-standardized prevalence of the metabolic syndrome was 36.3% (28.7% among men and 40.9% among women). This estimate was considerably higher than that reported in the US population (24%, ATP III criteria) (Park et al., 2003) and Arab populations including Arab Americans (23%, ATP III criteria and 28%, WHO

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