title: Prevalence of metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular risk factors among voluntary screened middle-aged and elderly Egyptians.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Central obesity and diabetes mellitus are recorded at high percentages among Egyptians. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and cardiovascular risk factors among a group of middle-aged and elderly Egyptians.
  
  
  METHODS
  Our study included 220 middle-aged and senior Egyptians voluntary screened in an Egyptian private hospital with 800-bed capacity. Detailed medical history was obtained from all subjects, followed by clinical examination with weight and height measurement, body mass index calculation, waist hip ratio and arterial blood pressure measurement. Laboratory investigations done were complete blood picture, lipid profile and fasting blood glucose measurements. The diagnosis of MetS was based on the American Heart Association/Updated NCEP ATP III criteria. Cardiovascular risk assessment was calculated for each subject based on the Framingham/ATP III criteria.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of MetS in this study was of 55% among the whole sample, 85.6% among diabetics and 76.6% among hypertensive patients. Based on Framingham scoring system, 48.2% of the sample had moderate to high risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Odds ratio for patients with MetS for developing cardiovascular disease in the next 10 years was 2.8 (95% confidence interval: 1.6-4.8).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The high prevalence of MetS among middle-aged and elderly Egyptians with the documented high prevalence of chronic diseases in Egypt calls for a nationwide screening program to detect MetS and tackle preventive strategies to face the epidemic of obesity and outcomes of MetS, particularly cardiovascular diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Khaled Mahmoud
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Abd Elaziz
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Mohamed Salah
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Gabal
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Ola Abdelsamie
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Aldafrawy
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Hasnaa Abdel-Al
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Abou Seif
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Cordoba, Avda. Menéndez Pidal, s/n, Cordoba 14004, Spain.
authors.forename: Mohamed Farouk
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Allam
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D004534:Egypt / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors
keywords: Egypt; cardiovascular risk factors; metabolic syndrome