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Prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in the middle-aged and older Chinese population

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Abstract

Prevalence of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) is rapidly increasing in developing countries. The aim of the study was to provide the latest nationwide estimate on the prevalence of MetS in china. Using a complex, multistage, probability sampling design, a cross-sectional study was performed in a nationally representative sample of 17,708 adults aged 45 years and older from 28 provinces in 2011–2012. MetS was defined by the “Harmonizing the Metabolic Syndrome (HMS),” the guidelines from the National Cholesterol Education Program Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (modified ATP III) and the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) definition, respectively. Overall, the age-standardized prevalence of MetS defined by the modified ATP III criteria was 33.7 %, but the prevalence defined by the new HMS and IDF definition significantly increased to 43.4 and 36.2 %, respectively. And prevalence of central obesity was considerably higher (52.1 vs. 24.0 %) with the HMS (or IDF) criteria than with the modified ATP III criteria. The age-standardized prevalence of high blood pressure, hyperglycemia, hypertriglyceridemia, and low HDL cholesterol was 54.1, 57.7, 27.6, and 43.1 %, respectively. Prevalence of the metabolic syndrome was rapidly increasing in the middle-aged and older Chinese population. We may bear a higher MetS-related burden and underscore the need for strategies aimed at the prevention, detection, and treatment of MetS and special attention should be paid to elderly women population.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would also like to thank all the participants in survey design and data collection, the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), National School of Development, and China Center for Economic Research, Peking University, Beijing, China. We thank the CHARLS leader, Professor Yaohui Zhao, and the CHARLS research and field team and every respondent in the study for their contributions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Health Policy & Management, Nanjing Medical University, Hanzhong Road 140, Nanjing, 210029, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Fan Yang

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Correspondence to Fan Yang.

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Funding

This study was funded by ‘Study on the Vertical Integration Strategies in Health Services for Rural Patients with Chronic Diseases Based on Comprehensive Incentive Model’ form the National Natural Science Fund of China (grant no. 71473130), ‘Current status and implementation experiences of typical collaboration models between hospitals and community health service centers’ from the general project of social science research for Jiangsu university, education department of Jiangsu province (grant no. 2014SJB161), ‘Socioeconomic inequalities in prevalence and control of diabetes mellitus in the rural Shandong, China’ (grant no. 2013NJMU029) form Nanjing Medical University.

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The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Medical Ethics Committee of Peking University and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Yang, F. Prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in the middle-aged and older Chinese population. Int J Diabetes Dev Ctries 37, 176–182 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13410-016-0472-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13410-016-0472-y

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