A systematic review on the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in Iranian children and adolescents.
BACKGROUND
Metabolic syndrome (MetS), a cluster of cardiovascular risk factors, is one of the most common metabolic disorders, which lead to many chronic diseases. The link between childhood MetS and occurrence of atherosclerosis and its sequels in adulthood is well documented. This study aims to systematically review the prevalence of MetS among Iranian children and adolescents.


METHODS
An electronic search was conducted on studies published from January 1990 to January 2015. The main international electronic data sources were PubMed and the NLM Gateway (for MEDLINE), Institute of Scientific Information (ISI), and SCOPUS. For Persian databases, we used domestic databases. We included all available population-based studies and national surveys conducted in the pediatric age group aged 3-21-year-old.


RESULTS
In this review, 2138 articles were identified (PubMed: 265; SCOPUS: 368; ISI: 465; Scientific Information Database: 189; IranMedex: 851; Irandoc: 46). After quality assessment, 13 qualified articles were evaluated. The number of total population and points of data were 24,772 and 125, respectively. Regarding the geographical distribution, we found 2 national, 6 provincial, and 5 district level points of data. The prevalence range of MetS among children was 1-22% using different definitions. Reported range of pediatric MetS defined by different criteria was as follows: National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III; 3-16%, International Diabetes Federation; 0-8%, American Heart Association; 4-9.5%, The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III; 1-18%, de Ferranti; 0-22%.


CONCLUSIONS
MetS is a common metabolic disorder among Iranian children and adolescents, with increasing trends during the last decades. This finding provides baseline useful information for health policy makers to implement evidence based-health promotion for appropriate controlling of this growing health problem for the pediatric population.
Department of Pediatrics, Child Growth and Development Research Center, Research Institute for Primordial Prevention of Non-Communicable Disease, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
Roya
R
Kelishadi
Department of Pediatrics, Child Growth and Development Research Center, Research Institute for Primordial Prevention of Non-Communicable Disease, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
Silva
S
Hovsepian
Non-Communicable Diseases Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Population Science Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Development of Research and Technology Center, Tehran, Iran.
Shirin
S
Djalalinia
Department of Pediatrics, Child Growth and Development Research Center, Research Institute for Primordial Prevention of Non-Communicable Disease, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
Fahimeh
F
Jamshidi
Department of Community Medicine, School of Medicine, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran; Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinical Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Mostafa
M
Qorbani
Iran; metabolic syndrome; pediatrics; prevalence; systematic review