Objective: To assess the frequency of metabolic syndrome (MS) and its constituents in a sample of Pakistani obese patients.
Methodology: In this descriptive and cross-sectional study, we used a sample of 300 patients from Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar, Pakistan from April 2016 to November 2016. They were randomly selected and their mean age was between 15 and 25 years. The variables obtained included BMI, both systolic and diastolic blood pressure, cholesterol, fasting blood glucose, triglyceride levels, LDL- cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, waist to hip ratio, waist circumference and insulin resistance.
Results: Of the 300 patients, the frequency of MS was 20%. There were no significant differences in the frequency of developing MS between the genders. The order of frequency of the components as observed was as follows; abdominal obesity was 88%, high triglyceride level was 85%, males were 40%, 40% of the sampled population resided in the urban area. Meanwhile, 35% of the patients had hypertension while only 5% had hyperglycemia. The frequency of developing MS was 70 times higher in patients with high triglyceride levels in their when compared to those with normal levels.
Conclusion: The frequency of MS and its components in Pakistani adolescent patients is high. The high levels of triglyceride and a sedentary lifestyle profoundly contributed to MS. Moreover, the findings signify the importance of early treatment and prevention of obesity in working toward reducing the rate of diabetes mellitus type 2; as glucose intolerance had a strong relationship with the components of MS, and cardiovascular diseases such coronary artery disease.
Key words: Metabolic syndrome, central obesity, type II diabetes mellitus, high triglyceride, hypertension, dyslipidemia.
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