EPIDEMIOLOGY OF THE METABOLIC SYNDROME IN THE ADULT POPULATION IN THE CITY OF TIMIŞOARA

Abstract

The metabolic syndrome (MS) is a condition associated with risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and for type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), conditions which reduce significantly the quality and the duration of patients’ life and are a financial burden for the society.

The prevalence of the MS at a world wide level has increased dramatically in the last decades parallel with the appearance of a true obesity epidemic as result of a sedentary lifestyle and excessive caloric intake. In the last decade, the MS prevalence in general adult population in the city of Timişoara was not evaluated until this study.

We performed a cross-sectional study in order to evaluate the prevalence of the MS in the adult population in the city of Timişoara. In addition, we aimed to assess the components of the MS present in the study population and the prevalence of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in individuals with MS.

The prevalence of MS, defined according to International Diabetes Federation (IDF) criteria, was 27.71% in the study population, similar to the one reported in the western European countries. In Timişoara, the MS prevalence in adult population increased by 4.6 percentage points in the past 10 years.

The prevalence of atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases was significantly higher in individuals with MS than in those without MS, and increased parallel with the increase in number of met IDF diagnostic criteria for MS.