Sara Albishi is currently a PhD student of the Department of Nutritional Sciences at Howard University. She completed her master’s degree in the University of the District of Columbia. Her master’s thesis was about the effectiveness of vitamin D on type 2 diabetes.
Abstract
Background: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a combination of risk indicators that appear to promote the development of chronic diseases. It is also described as a group of risk factors that increase the chance of having heart disease and other health problems such as diabetes and stroke.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the consequences of MetS among adult Whites, African Americans and Hispanics aged 40 years or more.
Methods: The proposed study used data abstracted from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2015-2016. The following variables were utilized: sociodemographic data (age, gender, marital status, educational level and household income); the criteria for MetS diagnosis (levels of blood pressure, fasting plasma blood glucose, blood triglyceride, HDL-cholesterol, and waist circumference); and the consequences of MetS (coronary heart disease, heart attack, stroke, breast cancer, prostate cancer, diabetes and prediabetes, overweight and obesity). The data were analyzed using SUDAAN software (RTI international, INC., Research Triangle Park, North Carolina). The relationships of MetS and its individual components to the consequences of MetS were compared among the three ethnic groups using chi-square and t-tests. The level of significance was 5%.
Results: The findings demonstrated that participants who are diagnosed with MetS criteria are more likely to have higher risk of the following consequences: Diabetes and prediabetes, overweight and obesity. The findings show that of all the ethnic groups evaluated, those who had high blood glucose levels were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes and obesity.
Conclusions: Diabetes/Prediabetes were found to have a high association between high waist circumference in Whites, African Americans and Hispanics. There is an assassination between high waist circumference levels and overweight/obese among all ethnic groups.