Does metabolic syndrome exist in Ivory Coast?

The metabolic syndrome is a particular state of morbidity characterized by the association of several factors contributing to the increase in the cardiovascular risk. This constellation of factors associates the glucose intolerance and its corollary, the hyperglycemia, the overweight, the hypertriglyceridemia, the fall of the HDL-cholesterol and arterial hypertension. In Africa, it is difficult to evaluate in the actual prevalence of the metabolic syndrome. The present study's aims were to determine the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in a population of subjects, supposed healthy, in Abidjan (Ivory Coast). This cross-sectional study was undertaken on a population of 385 people supposed healthy with like work tools, the definition of the metabolic syndrome of the "National Cholesterol Program Education - Adult Treatment Panel III". The results obtained showed a total prevalence of the metabolic syndrome with 4.94% in the studied population; that 4.42% of the subjects presented three criteria and 0.52% expressed four of them. The most occuring associative method was that of "abdominal obesity plus fall HDL-cholesterol plus high arterial pressure". © 2008 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.