Objective: To assess the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) in two independent Finnish study cohorts.
Research design and methods: The prevalence of the MetS by modified World Health Organization criteria was analyzed in different categories of glucose tolerance in a cross-sectional, population-based sample of 2,049 individuals (FINRISK) aged 45-64 years and in 522 participants of the Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study (DPS) with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT).
Results: In the FINRISK cohort, the MetS was present in 38.8% of the men and 22.2% of the women. The prevalence was 14.4 and 10.1% in subjects with normal glucose tolerance, 74.0 and 52.2% in subjects with impaired fasting glucose, 84.8 and 65.4% in subjects with IGT, and 91.5 and 82.7% in subjects with type 2 diabetes in men and women, respectively. Among women, the prevalence of the MetS increased with increasing age. In the DPS cohort, the MetS was present in 78.4% of the men and 72.2% of the women with IGT.
Conclusions: The MetS was extremely common in middle-aged subjects The high prevalence in men was mostly due to their high waist-to-hip ratio. The prevalence of the MetS increased in both sexes with deterioration in glucose regulation. Approximately 75% of the subjects with IGT had the MetS. Because the syndrome includes the major risk factors for atherosclerotic vascular diseases and is the major antecedent for type 2 diabetes, concerted preventive action should be targeted to control all the features of the MetS.