Rising waist sizes and glucose levels, but metabolic syndrome rate stable among US youths
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The metabolic syndrome rate among U.S. youths remained at slightly more than 4% over 20 years, but prevalence increased of large waist circumference and high glucose level, according to results published in JAMA Pediatrics.
“In the U.S., more than one-third of adults have metabolic syndrome. However, data are limited among youth,” Junxiu Liu, PhD, assistant professor in the department of population health science and policy at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and colleagues wrote. “Examining trends in prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its subcomponents among youth overall and by subgroups can guide prevention strategies, especially those at higher risk for early-onset cardiometabolic diseases.”
Liu and colleagues analyzed data on 6,289 youths aged 12 to 19 years (51.6% boys) from 10 cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999 to 2018.
The prevalence of metabolic syndrome from 1999 to 2018 remained steady at 4.36% (95% CI, 3.65-5.2), but prevalence trends of subcomponents varied. Specifically, the prevalence for elevated waist circumference rose from 12.47% (95% CI, 10.47-14.78) to 17.59% (95% CI, 15.07-20.43; P for trend= .02) and elevated plasma glucose increased from 10.7% (95% CI, 8.5-13.39) to 23.65% (95% CI, 19.24-28.72).
At the same time, prevalence rates decreased for low HDL, from 28.4% (95% CI, 24.89-32.19) to 19.64% (95% CI, 15.9-24.01; P for trend= .01); elevated triglycerides, from 9.89% (95% CI, 7.81 12.45) to 5.91% (95% CI, 4.19-8.31; P for trend < .001); and high blood pressure, from 4.83% (95% CI, 3.29-7.05) to 3.66% (95% CI, 2.46-5.43; P for trend = .02).
In subgroup analysis, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome was highest among Mexican American youths (7.7%; 95% CI, 6.32-9.36) compared with other racial and ethnic groups, followed by young people whose parents had less than a high school-level education (6.53%; 95% CI, 4.89-8.69), those from households with a poverty-to-income ratio less than 1.3 (4.99%; 95% CI, 3.91-6.35), those from households with very low food security (6.99%; 95% CI, 4.49-10.73) and those with obesity (20.09%; 95% CI, 16.96-23.61).
“The findings suggest that interventions to prevent youth metabolic syndrome and minimize disparities should address central obesity, glycemic control and social determinants of health,” the researchers wrote.
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