A three-country study on the components of the metabolic syndrome in youths: The BIG Study

Abstract

Objectives. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of components of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) among representative samples of children and adolescents from Brazil, Iran and Germany (BIG study). Methods. We report the data of a total number of 4 473 children (mean age 7.7 years; 2 218 boys,) and 6 800 adolescents (mean age 12.6 years; 3 409 boys) who participated in three large national studies. Anthropometric measures, blood pressure (BP) and lipid profile were assessed, fasting plasma glucose was determined in German and Iranian participants. Results. With few exceptions, the mean of the components of the metabolic syndrome was higher in boys than in girls. The main ethnic differences were the high prevalence of low HDL-C levels in Iranian and Brazilian youths compared with German youths (34% vs.7%, respectively, pConclusion. While the prevalence of abdominal adiposity was nearly similar, Iranian and Brazilian youths had considerably higher prevalence of dyslipidemia than German youths. Future longitudinal studies should seek the clinical importance of these ethnic differences.