Prevalence, incidence and characteristics of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) in a cohort of Mexican Mestizo early rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with conventional disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs: the complex relationship between MetS and disease activity

Table 3 Comparison of the distribution of individual components of metabolic syndrome (according to AHA/NHLBI definition) between RA patients and controls

	Early RA patients ( n = 160)	Controls ( n = 160)	P value
Patients who met AHA/NHLBI MetS definition	28 (17.5)	48 (30)	0.01
Patients within each category of MetS definition with a particular individual component
BMI component	18 (64.3)	42 (87.5)	0.02
TG component	26 (92.9)	43 (89.6)	1
C-HDL component	27 (96.4)	46 (95.8)	1
Blood pressure component	10 (35.7)	11 (22.9)	0.29
Fasting glucose component	15 (53.6)	16 (33.3)	0.10

Data presented as n (%). AHA/NHLBI, The American Heart Association/National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute; BMI, body mass index; C-HDL, high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol; MetS, metabolic syndrome; RA, rheumatoid arthritis; TG, triglycerides.