Original scientific paper
Metabolic Syndrome in an Island Population of the Eastern Adriatic Coast of Croatia
Ranjan Deka
Nina Smolej Narančić
Huifeng Xi
Stjepan Turek
Mirjana Čubrilo-Turek
Danijela Vrhovski-Hebrang
Branka Janičijević
Andrea Tomljenović
Lajos Szirovicza
Li Jin
Ranajit Chakraborty
Pavao Rudan
Abstract
The metabolic syndrome, an assemblage of risk factors, viz., obesity, dyslipidemia, carbohydrate intolerance, and hypertension,
associated with development of cardiovascular diseases and Type 2 diabetes, has become a major public
health problem in the developed countries. However, data on its prevalence in worldwide populations, particularly in
non-industrialized societies is sparse.We report the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in an island population of the eastern
Adriatic coast of Croatia, a distinctly homogenous population living in relative isolation with a traditional way of
life style pattern. The participants consist of 381 unrelated individuals (136 males, 245 females) from the island of Hvar,
age 19 and above. Hvar is among the most populated Croatian islands with a total population of 11,459 individuals according
to the 1991 census. Metabolic syndrome was assessed following the National Cholesterol Education Program
(NCEP) criteria, with the exception of using body mass index and waist hip ratio as the predictors of obesity. Overall
age-adjusted prevalence of metabolic syndrome is 26% (32% in males and 24% in females) with body mass index, and
42% (57% in males and 36% in females) with waist hip ratio as the measures of obesity. Pairwise correlations of the age
and sex-adjusted individual components show that with the exception of fasting plasma glucose, the other components of
metabolic syndrome are significantly associated with each other, suggesting their co-morbidity. In spite of adherence to a
relatively traditional life-style pattern together with a »Mediterranean diet« and rural habitat, the prevalence of metabolic
syndrome is substantially high in the population of Hvar. It is likely that factors other than nutritional practices,
that might include genetic susceptibility, could potentially be important in predisposition to metabolic syndrome.
Keywords
metabolic syndrome; Adriatic island; body mass index; waist hip ratio; carbohydrate intolerance; dyslipidemia; cardiovascular disease; Mediterranean diet
Hrčak ID:
22818
URI
Publication date:
8.5.2008.
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