Prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in populations of Asian origin. Comparison of the IDF definition with the NCEP definition.

AIMS: To estimate the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome using the IDF versus NCEP definition. POPULATION: 14222 non-diabetic and 1516 diabetic subjects, aged 25-74 years.
RESULTS: The age-standardized prevalence of the IDF metabolic syndrome in non-diabetic men (women) was 12.0% (15.0%), 13.8% (2.5%), 12.8% (17.0%), and 13.2% (20.3%), respectively, in Chinese, Japanese, Mauritian Indians, and native Indians. The prevalence ratio of IDF to NCEP was 1.5 (1.5), 2.7 (0.4), 1.2 (1.2), and 1.0 (1.3) in Chinese, Japanese, Mauritian, and Native Indian men (women), respectively. When the same obesity criteria for Japanese as for others were used the ratio for Japanese was 1.5 in both genders. Of all subjects fulfilling either of the two definitions, only 28% of men and 47% of women met the both. The prevalence of central obesity was 52 times greater using the IDF definition than using the NCEP definition in Japanese men but it was 0.8 times lower in Japanese women.
CONCLUSIONS: The IDF definition brought a higher prevalence of the metabolic syndrome than the NCEP in all except for Japanese women but many lean subjects with hypertension and/or dyslipidemia were undetected by this definition. The IDF criterion for central obesity for Japanese needs to be reconsidered.