title: Prevalence of metabolic syndrome in 8-18-year-old school-going children of Srinagar city of Kashmir India.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Obesity is the most common cause of insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome (MS). These are the most important risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD). No evidence exists regarding the prevalence of the MS in children in sSrinagar city of Kashmir India. We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of MS in 8-18-year-old school-going children of Kashmir, India.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this cross-sectional study, 758 respondents in 8-18 years of age were randomly selected using a simple random sampling method. The self-designed questionnaire was individually completed after receiving a written informed consent. The weight, height, waist circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI), and blood pressure were measured using standard tools. Ten milliliters of blood was taken for measuring lipid profile and fasting blood sugar (FBS) of the school children. We determined MS according to the modified Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP III) criteria.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of the MS was 3.8% (boys: 3.9%, girls: 3.8%) and the prevalence of obesity was 9.9% (boys: 9.9%, girls: 10.6%) among the studied children. Obese subjects had the highest proportion of MS compared with those at risk for overweight and those with normal weight (30.7% vs. 2.5% and 0.5%, respectively; P = 0.000).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The MS is prevalent even in young children, so we suggest screening programs for children aged 8-18 years to control obesity and MS in the developing world.
authors.affiliation: Department of Post Graduate Medicine, SMHS Hospital, Srinagar, Kashmir, India.
authors.forename: Syed M S
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Andrabi
authors.forename: Mohd H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Bhat
authors.forename: Syed R S
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Andrabi
authors.forename: Mohd M A
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Kamili
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Imran
authors.forename: Iqra
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nisar
authors.forename: Umara
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Nisar
keywords: Metabolic syndrome; obesity; prevalence; school-going children