Introduction:

metabolic syndrome (MS) components are independent risk factors for the development of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, major causes of mortality in the world.

Objective:

to evaluate the frequency of MS components and its association with sociodemographic variables and physical activity among young health professionals at the University of Guadalajara.

Methods:

a cross-sectional study entitled LATIN America METabolic Syndrome Mexico (LATINMETS-Mex) was conducted. Weight, height, waist circumference, blood pressure, triglycerides, glucose and HDL cholesterol were measured. Socio-demographic and physical activity data were surveyed. MS components were diagnosed based on the revised criteria of Alberti et al. (2009). Associations were assessed using logistic regression adjusted for age and sex.

Results:

a total of 316 volunteer subjects were analyzed (70.9% women, 83.8% ≤ 29 years). The frequency of MS was 7.0% and 55.5% of subjects presented one or more MS components (27.2% abdominal obesity, 26.6% low HDL cholesterol). After adjustment, abdominal obesity, high blood pressure and hypertriglyceridemia were positively associated with BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2. High blood pressure and hypertriglyceridemia were negatively associated with being female while low HDL cholesterol was positively associated with this gender after adjustment. Abdominal obesity was the only component negatively associated with physical activity (300 to 600 minutes per week) after adjusting for age and sex. No association between MS and sociodemographic variables or physical activity was found.

Conclusions:

half of the participants presented one or more metabolic syndrome components. Actions are required to reduce cardiometabolic risk in the study population considering the sociodemographic and lifestyle variables associated.

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