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The new definition of metabolic syndrome by the international diabetes federation is less likely to identify metabolically abnormal but non-obese individuals than the definition by the revised national cholesterol education program: The Korea NHANES Study

International Journal of Obesity volume 31, pages 528–534 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective:

The new definitions for metabolic syndrome (MS) proposed by the IDF and revised NCEP have caused some confusion because patients have emerged that have satisfied the revised NCEP but not the IDF criteria. We performed this study to compare the prevalence of these criteria and to investigate the characteristics of discrepant cases.

Research design and methods:

A total of 7962 individuals aged ⩾ 20 years (3597 men; 4365 women) who participated in the 1998 Korean NHANES were included. We assessed the agreement between the revised NCEP and IDF criteria and investigated the characteristics of cases satisfying the revised NCEP criteria but not the IDF criteria.

Results:

The prevalence of MS by the revised NCEP (25.7% of men and 31.9% of women) was higher than that according to the IDF (14.2% of men and 26.6% of women). The IDF criteria failed to identify 44.9% of men and 16.6% of women identified as having MS according to the revised NCEP criteria. The discrepant group showed more adverse metabolic profiles and unfavorable lifestyles despite lower waist circumference as compared with those having MS by both the IDF and revised NCEP criteria. The prevalence of discrepant cases was higher among the elderly.

Conclusions:

The IDF criteria were inferior to the revised NCEP criteria in identifying the metabolically abnormal but nonobese groups known to be predisposed to type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Further research regarding the appropriateness of central obesity as an obligatory criterion proposed by the IDF seems to be warranted.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA) for providing the 1998 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family Medicine, Center for Health Promotion, Mitochondrial Research Group, and Clinical Research Center, Ilsan-Paik Hospital, College of Medicine, Inje University, Gyeonggi-Do, Korea

    Y S Yoon, E S Lee & S W Oh

  2. Department of Internal Medicine, Hallym Sacred Heart Hospital, College of Medicine, Hallym University, Gyeonggi-Do, Korea

    C Park

  3. Department of Family Medicine, Center for Obesity Nutrition and Metabolism, Pusan National University Hospital, Busan, Korea

    S Lee

  4. Medical Research Institute, Pusan National University, Busan, Korea

    S Lee

  5. Medical Education Unit, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Busan, Korea

    S Lee

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  1. Y S Yoon
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Correspondence to S W Oh.

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Yoon, Y., Lee, E., Park, C. et al. The new definition of metabolic syndrome by the international diabetes federation is less likely to identify metabolically abnormal but non-obese individuals than the definition by the revised national cholesterol education program: The Korea NHANES Study. Int J Obes 31, 528–534 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0803442

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