Metabolic Syndrome Up in Young Adults in the United States

THURSDAY, June 25, 2020 (HealthDay News) — The prevalence of metabolic syndrome among young adults in the United States is rising, according to a research letter published in the June 23/30 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Grishma Hirode and Robert J. Wong, M.D., from the Alameda Health System-Highland Hospital in Oakland, California, used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2011 to 2016) to assess the prevalence of metabolic syndrome among U.S. adults.

The researchers found that among 17,048 participants, the weighted metabolic syndrome prevalence was 34.7 percent. There were no significant differences in metabolic syndrome prevalence between men and women, but it was highest among “other” race/ethnicity (39 percent), followed by Hispanic (36.3 percent) and non-Hispanic white (36 percent) participants. While increasing, the change in overall crude metabolic syndrome prevalence from 2011 to 2016 was not statistically significant. Metabolic syndrome prevalence increased significantly among those aged 20 to 39 years (16.2 to 21.3 percent), women (31.7 to 36.6 percent), Asian participants (19.9 to 26.2 percent), and Hispanic participants (32.9 to 40.4 percent).

“Efforts to implement prevention strategies, including lifestyle modification and use of medications targeted at subgroups at highest risk, may assist in lowering the risk of developing cardiovascular disease,” the authors write.

One author disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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