Prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its influencing factors among the Chinese adults: The China Health and Nutrition Survey in 2009

- MS is still highly prevalent among Chinese adults regardless the used criteria.
- Individuals who were women, ≥ 40 years, obese, and living in urban area were more likely to have higher prevalence estimate of MS.
- Frequency of alcohol consumption and cigarette intake were also found to be significantly associated with probability of MS.
- National strategies should be developed to prevent, detect, treat and control MS in China.

ObjectiveWe aimed to estimate the up-to-date prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) and its influencing factors among the Chinese adults.MethodsData were obtained from the China Health and Nutrition Survey conducted in 2009, which was a cross-sectional and partially nationally representative study including a total of 7488 Chinese adults (age ≥ 18 years).ResultsThe overall age-standardized prevalence estimates of the MS were 21.3% (95%confidence interval (CI): 20.4%-22.2%), 18.2% (95%CI: 17.3%-19.1%) and 10.5% (95%CI: 9.8%-11.2%) based on definitions of revised NCEP ATPIII, IDF and CDS criteria, respectively. Individuals who were women (compared to men: odds ratio [OR] = 1.37, 95% CI = 1.16-1.61), 40 years or older (compared to less than 40 years old: OR = 2.82, 95%CI = 2.37-3.34 for 40-59 years; OR = 4.41, 95%CI = 3.68-5.29 for 60 years or older), overweight/obese (compared to normal weight: OR = 4.32, 95%CI = 3.77-4.95 for overweight; OR = 11.24, 95%CI = 9.53-13.26 for obese), and living in urban area (compared to living in rural area: OR = 1.27, 95%CI = 1.12-1.43) were more likely to have a higher prevalence estimate of MS. In addition, frequency of alcohol consumption and cigarette intake were also found to be significantly associated with probability of MS.ConclusionsOur results suggest an urgent need to develop national strategies for the prevention, detection, treatment and control of obesity and MS in China.