Metabolic syndrome among Nigerians with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a comparative study of the diagnostic criteria.

Abstract BackgroundMetabolic syndrome is associated with increased cardiovascular death. The objectives of this study were to find the frequency of metabolic syndrome among Nigerians with type 2 diabetes and to compare the modified NCEP ATP III criteria and the IDF criteria MethodsThe study involved 134 participants. Sixty-seven were cases with type 2 diabetes while the rest were the controls without type 2 diabetes. Ethical approval was granted by the institution’s ethics review committee. Anthropometric, clinical and laboratory parameters were obtained using standard protocols. Data were analyzed with SPSS version 22. Means were compared with Student’s t test while proportions were compared with the Pearson’s chi square. Point biserial correlation was used to determine the association between the dichotomous variables and interval variables. Agreement between the criteria was tested with the Cohen’s kappa test.ResultsType 2 diabetes was associated with a higher prevalence of hypertension and truncal obesity. The frequency of metabolic syndrome was lower with the IDF criteria compared with the modified NCEP criteria (65.7% vs 71.6%). Although there was a strong agreement between the IDF and the modified NCEP criteria (κ=0.862; p<0.0001) yet, the IDF criteria missed 8.3% of diabetic individuals diagnosed with metabolic syndrome by the modified NCEP criteria. Cardiovascular risk is better predicted when the modified NCEP criteria were used to diagnose metabolic syndrome.ConclusionMetabolic syndrome is very common among Nigerians with type 2 diabetes and it is better diagnosed with the modified NCEP ATP III criteria.