A study published in the JAMA Pediatrics revealed that the rate of metabolic syndrome in teenagers has remained pretty stable over the past two decades.

The study enrolled 6,289 youths with an average age of 15.5 years. As per the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data, the prevalence of elevated waist circumference increased from 12.4 to 17.6 %, and elevated plasma glucose increased from 10.7% to 23.7%, while the rate of metabolic syndrome remained stable at about 4.36 % from 1999 to 2018.

According to the study, the prevalence of increased blood pressure, high triglycerides, and poor HDL cholesterol among adolescents over 12 years of age decreased from 4.8% in 1999 to 3.7% in 2018, 9.9% to 5.9%, and 28.4% to 19.6%, respectively. Further, the highest prevalence of metabolic syndrome was found in young people with severe food insecurity (6.99%), young people with poverty-to-income ratios under 1.30 (4.99%), young people whose parents had only completed high school (6.53%), and young people who were obese (20.09%).

The findings showed the need to address the various environmental elements which had a strong impact on metabolic syndrome in young people. (MedPage Today July 11, 2022)