Paediatric metabolic syndrome and associated anthropometric indices: the CASPIAN Study.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence of paediatric metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its best predictive anthropometric index.


METHODS
This national study was conducted among 4811 students (2248 boys and 2563 girls) aged 6-18 y. This is the first study of its kind in Iran and, to our knowledge, in Asia as well. Two definitions were used for the MetS: type A was defined based on criteria analogous to ATP III, and type B was defined according to the cut-offs obtained from NHANES III. Both types A and B define high fasting blood sugar as > 100 mg/dl and systolic/diastolic blood pressure as > 90th percentile.


RESULTS
The mean (SD) age of students studied was 12.07+/-3.2 y. MetS type A was seven times more prevalent than type B (14% vs 2%, respectively, p<0.0001), and had no significant gender difference. The most frequent components of both definitions of the MetS were low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and high triglyceride (TG). Waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) had the strongest and weakest associations, respectively, with the MetS.


CONCLUSIONS
Establishment of a uniform set of criteria for the MetS in children is needed. Routine WC measurement in the paediatric population may be clinically useful.
Kelishadi
Roya
R
Preventive Paediatric Cardiology Department, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran. kroya@aap.net
Ardalan
Gelayol
G
Gheiratmand
Riaz
R
Adeli
Khosrow
K
Delavari
Alireza
A
Majdzadeh
Reza
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000886:Anthropometry; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence