Prevalence of metabolic syndrome in children aged 5-9 years from southwest colombia: a cross-sectional study

Background: Exploration of cardiometabolic alterations in the pre-adolescent stage is necessary to characterize possible patterns for matabolic syndrome (MetS) in the earliest stages of the life. However, defining specific cutoff points for metabolic and vascular markers represents a complex task in pre-adolescent populations. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of MetS and its components in children aged 5-9 years old by using the MetS definition for adolescents with the lowest cut-off points, and evaluate its relationship with overweight and socio-demographic determinants. Methods: A total of 494 children were evaluated. Multivariate models with filtered variables in preliminary univarite analyses were built to find predictive factors of MetS and its components. Results: The prevalence of MetS was 8.7% in the studied children. Multivariate models showed that age, overweight and low socioeconomic stratum were associated with MetS; low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol was not significantly associated with any variable; high triglycerides were positively associated with age, overweight and inversely associated with kilocalories/day; female gender was the only variable significantly associated with high fasting glucose (inverse association); and age, gender and overweight were significant factors for increased waist circumference. In the case of high blood pressure, no variable was classified to the multivariate analysis. Conclusions: This study showed disturbing figures regarding cardiometabolic risk in the children based on comparisons with studies in adolescents. Further studies are needed to confirm the utility of the de Ferranti Mets definition in children.