Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome and Associated Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Guatemalan School Children

  • Published:
Maternal and Child Health Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Guatemala is experiencing a nutritional and lifestyle transition. While chronic malnutrition is prevalent, overweight, obesity and chronic diseases have increased substantially in the country. This study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and the associated cardiovascular risk factors in the pre-adolescent Guatemalan population. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 302 Guatemalan children (8–13 years old) attending public and private schools in the Municipality of Chimaltenango. Demographic data and anthropometric and blood pressure measurements were collected. A blood sample was taken after an 8 h overnight fast and analyzed for glucose, triglyceride and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. The data were analyzed to identify factors associated with metabolic syndrome and with its components. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome in the study population was 2.0 %. However, approximately 54 % of the children had at least one component of metabolic syndrome, while none had four or five of the components. The three most prevalent risk factors were high triglycerides (43.4 %), low HDL cholesterol (17.2 %) and obesity (12.3 %). Boys were more likely to be obese than girls and rural children were more likely to have higher triglyceride levels than urban children. Although the prevalence of metabolic syndrome is low, the fact that majority of the children already have at least one component of metabolic syndrome is cause for concern since components of metabolic syndrome can continue into adulthood and increase the risk for chronic diseases later in life. Therefore, immediate action should be taken to address the problem.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. The US Global Health Initiative, Guatemala Strategy (2010). http://www.ghi.gov/documents/organization/158909.pdf. Accessed 28 Aug 2013.

  2. World Health Organization. Global Database on Child Growth and Malnutrition (2007). http://www.who.int/nutgrowthdb/reference/en/. Accessed 28 Aug 2013.

  3. Guatemalan Ministry of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2002). Encuesta Nacional de Salud Materno-Infantil (National Maternal and Child Health Survey). Guatemala City: Guatemalan Ministry of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://microdata.worldbank.org/index.php/catalog/982. Accessed 28 Aug 2013.

  4. World Health Organization. Global Database on Body Mass Index (2007). http://www.who.int/nutgrowthdb/database/en/. Accessed 28 Aug 2013.

  5. Pan American Health Organization. Central American Diabetes Initiative (CAMDI): Survey of Diabetes, Hypertension, and Chronic Disease Risk Factors. Villa Nueva, Guatemala 2006. Washington, DC: Pan American Health Organization. http://www.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3070&Itemid=1&lang=en. Accessed 28 Aug 2013.

  6. Anderson, L. B., Hasselstrom, H., Gronfeldt, V., Hansen, S. E., & Karsten, F. (2004). The relationship between physical fitness and clustered risk, and tracking of clustered risk from adolescence to young adulthood: Eight years follow-up in the Danish Youth and Sport Study. The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 1, 6–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Eisenmann, J. C., Welk, G. J., Wickel, E. E., & Blair, S. N. (2004). Stability of variables associated with the metabolic syndrome from adolescence to adulthood: The Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study. American Journal of Human Biology, 16, 690–696.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Guatemala Reproductive Health Survey 2008–2009 (Encuesta Nacional de Salud Materno Infantil (ENSMI), 2008–2009). Corporate Authors: Ministerio de Salud… Guatemala, November 2009. http://www.ine.gob.gt/np/ensmi/Informe_ENSMI2008_2009.pdf. Accessed 28 Aug 2013.

  9. Lorenzo, C., Williams, K., Hunt, K. J., & Haffner, S. M. (2007). The national cholesterol education program—Adult treatment panel III, international diabetes federation, and World Health Organization definitions of the metabolic syndrome as predictors of incident cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Diabetes Care, 30, 8–13. http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/30/1/8.full.pdf+html. Accessed 28 Aug 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Colom, I. A, Espada, R., Ordonez de Molina, A., Ortega, M. E, Alvarez, E. (2008). Tercer Censo Nacional de Talla en Escolares del Primer Grado de Educacion Primaria del Sector Oficial de la Republica de Guatemala. 4 al 8 de agosto de 2008. http://siinsan.gob.gt/portals/0/pdf/DesnutricionCronica_TercerCensoTallaEscolares2008.pdf. Accessed 28 Aug 2013.

  11. Disabled World (2008). Height chart of men and women in different countries. http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/height-chart.shtml. Accessed 28 Aug 2013.

  12. Lutter, C. K., & Chaparro, C. M. (2008). Malnutrition in infants and young children in Latin America and the Caribbean: Achieving the millennium development goals. Pan American Health Organization: Washington, D.C. http://www2.paho.org/hq/dmdocuments/2009/MalnutritionEng[1].pdf. Accessed 28 Aug 2013.

  13. Kerkela, C. A. (2011). Short and sweets: Diagnosing the causation of stunting in the Guatemala Maya population through historical, cultural, and biological analysis. http://www.academia.edu/715881/Short_and_Sweets_Diagnosing_the_Causation_of_Stunting_in_the_Guatemalan_Maya_Population_through_Historical_Cultural_and_Biological_Analysis. Accessed 28 Aug 2013.

  14. Popkin, B. M., Richards, M. K., & Montiero, C. A. (1996). Stunting is associated with overweight in children of four nations that are undergoing the nutrition transition. Journal of Nutrition, 126, 3009–3016.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Schroeder, D. G, Martorell, R., Flores, R. (1999). Infant and child growth and fatness and fat distribution in Guatemalan adults. American Journal of Epidemiology, 149, 177–185.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Eckhardt, C. L. (2006). Micronutrient malnutrition, obesity, and chronic disease in countries undergoing the nutrition transition: Potential links and program/policy implications. International food policy research institute, food consumption and nutrition division discussion paper 213, November 2006. http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/fcndp213.pdf. Accessed 28 Aug 2013.

  17. Strufaldi, M. W., Silva, E. M., & Puccini, R. F. (2008). Metabolic syndrome among prepubertal Brazilian schoolchildren. Diabetes and Vascular Research, 5, 291–297.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Dubose, K. D., Stewart, E. E., Charbonneau, S. R., Mayo, M. S., & Donnelly, J. E. (2006). Prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in elementary school children. Acta Paediatrica, 95, 1005–1011.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Webber, L. S., Srinivasan, S. R., Wattigney, W. A., & Berenson, G. S. (1991). Tracking of serum lipids and lipoproteins from childhood to adulthood. The Bogalusa Heart Study. American Journal of Epidemiology, 133, 884–899.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. World Health Organization (2007). World Health Organization growth reference data for 5–19 years. http://www.who.int/growthref/en/. Accessed 28 Aug 2013.

  21. Escobedo, J., Schargrodsky, H., Champagne, B., Silva, H., Boissonnet, C. P., Vinueza, R., et al. (2009). Prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in Latin America and its association with sub-clinical carotid atherosclerosis: The CARMELA cross sectional study. Cardiovascular Diabetology, 8, 52.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  22. Katzmarzyk, P. T., Perusse, L., Malina, R. M., Bergeron, J., Despres, J. P., & Bouchard, C. (2001). Stability of indicators of the metabolic syndrome from childhood and adolescence to young adulthood: The Quebec family study. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 54, 190–195.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Eberly, L. E., Prineas, R., Cohen, J. D., Vazquez, G., Zhi, X., Neaton, J. D., et al. (2006). Metabolic syndrome: Risk factor distribution and 18-year mortality in the multiple risk factor intervention trial. Diabetes Care, 29, 123–130.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Malik, S., Wong, N. D., Franklin, S. S., Kamath, T. V., L’Italien, G. J., Pio, J. R., et al. (2004). Impact of the metabolic syndrome on mortality from coronary heart disease, cardiovascular disease, and all causes in United States adults. Circulation, 110, 1245–1250.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Nilsson, P. M., Engstrom, G., & Hedblad, B. (2007). The metabolic syndrome and incidence of cardiovascular disease in non-diabetic subjects—A population-based study comparing three different definitions. Diabetic Medicine, 24, 464–472.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. McNeill, A. M., Rosamond, W. D., Girman, C. J., Golden, S. H., Schmidt, M. I., East, H. E., et al. (2005). The metabolic syndrome and 11-year risk of incident cardiovascular disease in the atherosclerosis risk in communities study. Diabetes Care, 28, 385–390.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Reis, E. C., Kip, K. E., Marroquin, O. C., Kiesau, M., Hipps, L., Jr, Peters, R. E., et al. (2006). Screening children to identify families at increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Pediatrics, 118, e1789–e1797.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Gregory, C. O., Dai, J., Ramirez-Zea, M., & Stein, A. D. (2007). Occupation is more important than rural or urban residence in explaining the prevalence of metabolic and cardiovascular disease risk in Guatemalan adults. Journal of Nutrition, 137, 1314–1319.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  29. Corvalan, C., Gregory, C. O., Ramirez-Zea, M., Martorell, R., & Stein, A. D. (2007). Size at birth, infant, early and later childhood growth and adult body composition: a prospective study in a stunted population. International Journal of Epidemiology, 36, 550–557.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Miller, M., Stone, N. J., Ballantyne, C., Bittner, V., Criqui, M. H., Ginsberg, H. N., et al. (2011). Triglycerides and cardiovascular disease: A scientific statement from the American Heart Association. Circulation, 123, 2292–2333.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Minority Health International Research Training (MHIRT) Grant No. T37-MD001448 from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA, and the Institute of Nutrition for Central America and Panamá (INCAP), Guatemala City, Guatemala.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1665 University Boulevard, RPHB 217, Birmingham, AL, 35294-0022, USA

    Omar Mbowe, Alicia Diaz, Jana Wallace & Pauline Jolly

  2. Instituto de Nutrición de Centro América y Panamá, Guatemala City, Guatemala

    Manolo Mazariegos

Authors
  1. Omar Mbowe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alicia Diaz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jana Wallace
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Manolo Mazariegos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Pauline Jolly
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pauline Jolly.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Mbowe, O., Diaz, A., Wallace, J. et al. Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome and Associated Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Guatemalan School Children. Matern Child Health J 18, 1619–1627 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-013-1402-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-013-1402-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation