title: Prevalence of metabolic syndrome in children and adolescents - the recent trends in South Korea.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although the metabolic syndrome (MetS) in childhood is increasing worldwide and becoming a significant public health problem, some countries report trends for stabilization. After 2005, the Health Plan 2010 of the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare has carried out the standardization of school lunch provisions for all students and reinforced nutritional and physical education in schools. Thus, an investigation of changes in the prevalence of MetS in Korean children and adolescents is important and intriguing in the aspect of evaluating the national public health intervention.
  
  
  METHODS
  We investigated trends in the prevalence of MetS among a nationally representative sample of 5652 children and adolescents aged 10-18 years from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (KNHANES) I (1998), II (2001), III (2005), and IV (2008).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Prevalence trends in MetS were 7.5%, 9.8%, 10.9%, and 6.7% in the KNHANES I through IV, respectively (p<0.001). Among the five components of MetS, the prevalence of low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol increased most over the 1998-2005 period and decreased over the 2005-2008 period.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of MetS has decreased since 2005 mainly because of changes in the prevalence of low levels of HDL cholesterol.
authors: Department of Family Medicine, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea.
authors: Ji-Youn
authors: JY
authors: Chung
authors: Hee-Taik
authors: HT
authors: Kang
authors: Youn-Ho
authors: YH
authors: Shin
authors: Hye-Ree
authors: HR
authors: Lee
authors: Byoung-Jin
authors: BJ
authors: Park
authors: Yong-Jae
authors: YJ
authors: Lee
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017668:Age of Onset; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D009749:Nutrition Surveys / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D015995:Prevalence; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D008076:Cholesterol, HDL