title: Prevalence of metabolic syndrome compared between native Japanese and Japanese-Americans.
abstract: Metabolic syndrome is a condition characterized by the accumulation of multiple risk factors for atherosclerosis. Japanese-Americans in the U.S. have a more rapid and intense progression of atherosclerosis than native Japanese in Japan due to a westernization of their lifestyle. We investigated the prevalence of metabolic syndrome between 416 native Japanese (194 men and 222 women) in Hiroshima and 574 Japanese-Americans (217 men and 357 women) in Los Angeles, aged 30-89 years. According to the criteria proposed by the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine, the prevalence was 13.9 and 2.7% for native Japanese men and women, and 32.7 and 3.4% for Japanese-American men and women, respectively. According to the IDF or AHA/NHLBI criteria, the prevalence was 20.1 and 6.3%, and 38.7 and 4.5%, or 13.4 and 14.4%, and 30.9 and 27.7%, respectively. Thus, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in men was significantly higher in Japanese-American than in native Japanese by all the three criteria. However, the prevalence in women was similar between native Japanese and Japanese-American by the Japanese and IDF criteria, whereas it was significantly higher in Japanese-American than in native Japanese by the AHA/NHLBI criteria. This report demonstrates that a westernization of lifestyle can increase the prevalence of metabolic syndrome among Japanese-Americans as compared to native Japanese.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Internal Medicine, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8551, Japan.
authors.forename: Masayasu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yoneda
authors.forename: Kiminori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamane
authors.forename: Kuniaki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jitsuiki
authors.forename: Shuhei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nakanishi
authors.forename: Nozomu
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kamei
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Nobuoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kohno
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001213:Asian / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology