Prevalence of metabolic syndrome using various cut-off points of waist circumference in Chinese Uygur,Han and Kazak adults

Objective To investigate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) in Chinese Uygur,Han and Kazak adults by using various cut-off points of waist circumference,and to determine the feasibility of applying cut-off points on an ethnic basis.Methods A randomized cross-sectional study was performed based on stratified cluster sampling among Chinese Uygur,Han and Kazak adults of 20 to 74 years old in Xinjiang Urumqi city,Hetian and Altay regions.The diagnosis of MS took reference on the definition of International Diabetes Federation (IDF),and the cut-off points of waist circumference were stratified on the ethnic basis.Results The cut-off points of waist circumference ≥ 90 cm in males and ≥ 80 cm in females yielded an overall prevalence of MS were 42.1％,16.7％ and 9.5％,and this figure was 28.3％,10.5％ and 5.9％ for age-adjusted prevalence in Uygur,Han and Kazak adults,respectively.When the cut-off points were adjusted to ≥93 cm and ≥89 cm in Uygur males and females,≥85 cm and ≥80 cm in Han males and females and to ≥99 cm and ≥88 cm in Kazak males and females,an overall prevalence of 25.6％,20.3％and 6.9％ and age-adjusted prevalence of 17.6％,13.4％ and 4.5％ in Uygur,Han and Kazak adults were revealed,respectively.Conclusions Adjusting the cut-off point of waist circumference,based on ethnic characteristics,may reduce the misdiagnosis of prevalence of MS in Uygur and Kazak adults and the missed diagnosis rate in Han adults.This may also contribute to reduced gap between the prevalence of MS among Uygur,Kazak and Han adults. Key words: Metabolic syndrome;  Cross-Sectional Studies;  Prevalence;  Cut-off point of waist circumference