Prevalence of metabolic syndrome in rural and urban Chinese population in Qingdao

Aims: To investigate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its components in both rural and urban Chinese population. Subjects and methods: A population-based cross-sectional survey was conducted in Qingdao, China in 2006 with 6100 Chinese aged 35-74 yr invited and 5355 who attended; 3357 subjects, 1562 urban (46.5%) and 1795 rural residents (53.5%) met the inclusion criteria for the current data analysis. The metabolic syndrome definitions of National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Expert Panel III (NCEP-ATPIII) 2004, NCEP 2005 and International Diabetes Federation (IDF) were used. Results: The age-standardized prevalences of metabolic syndrome were 16.2%, 32.2%, and 28.3% in men and 26.8%, 37.2%, and 34.6% in women, according to the definitions of the NCEP 2004, NCEP 2005, and IDF, respectively. Urban men have more risk factors and higher prevalence of the metabolic syndrome than rural men, but the differences in women were not that striking. Elevated blood pressure (62.6%) was, among risk factors, most common in the study population, followed by central obesity (53.4%), and hyperglycemia (52.2%) defined using the NCEP 2005 criteria. Conclusions: Metabolic disorders were common among adult Chinese in both rural and urban areas in Qingdao. (J. Endocrinol. Invest. 34: 444-448, 2011) (C) 2011, Editrice Kurtis