Prevalence of the metabolic syndrome among US adolescents using the definition from the international diabetes federation

OBJECTIVE - Our objective was to estimate the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome using the 2007 pediatric International Diabetes Federation (IDF) definition among adolescents in the U.S. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS - We used data from 2,014 participants aged 12-17 years of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2004. RESULTS - The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome for the period 1999-2004 was similar to 4.5% (similar to 1.1 million adolescents aged 12-17 years in 2006). It increased with age, was higher among males (6.7%) than females (2.1%) (P = 0.006), and was highest among Mexican-American adolescents (7.1%). The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome was relatively stable across the 6-year period: 4.5% for 1999-2000, 4.4-4.5% for 2001-2002, and 3.7-3.9% for 2003-2004 (P for linear trend > 0.050). CONCLUSIONS - Our results provide the first estimates of the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome using the pediatric IDF definition among adolescents in the U.S.