Appropriate De_nition of Metabolic Syndrome among Iranian Adults: Report of the Iranian National Committee of Obesity

A complex accumulation of metabolic abnormalities including hyperinsulinism, impaired glucose tolerance, hypertension, low HDL cholesterol and hypertriglyceridemia were named syndrome X by Raven, two decades ago. These non-communicable risk factors, which were later termed “metabolic syndrome” have an obscure etiology and a variety of clinical presentations. Therefore, the de_nition of metabolic syndrome has not been proposed on the basics of etiology and pathology, but has been de- _ned with respect to phenotype. Various de_nitions of metabolic syndrome have been proclaimed by the World Health Organization, Adult Treatment Panel (ATP) III, International Diabetes Federation (IDF), American Heart Association (AHA), and National Health Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI). The AHA-NHLBI proposal was a revised de_nition of ATP III with a reduction in fasting serum glucose from 110 to _100 mg/dL. Ethnic-speci_c values for waist circumference have been proposed for some populations, e.g. Europids and South-Americans. The IDF de_nition stated that instead of using a universal de_nition for central obesity, the ethnicspeci _c waist cut-off values should be considered when de_ning metabolic syndrome.