Public Health Nutrition: 14(10), 1702–1713 doi:10.1017/S1368980010003320 The prevalence of metabolic syndrome in Latin America: a systematic review F Ma ´ rquez-Sandoval 1,2,3 , G Macedo-Ojeda 1,2,3 , D Viramontes-Ho ¨rner 1,3 , JD Ferna ´ndez Ballart 4,5 , J Salas Salvado ´ 5,6 and B Vizmanos 1,2,3, * 1 Cuerpo Acade ´mico 454 ‘Alimentacio ´n y Nutricio ´ n en el proceso Salud-Enfermedad’, Laboratorio de Evaluacio ´n del Estado Nutricio, Departamento de Clı ´nicas de la Reproduccio ´ n Humana, Crecimiento y Desarrollo Infantil, Divisio ´n de Disciplinas Clı ´nicas, Centro Universitario de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Guadalajara. Calle Hospital 320, first floor (Antigua Escuela de Medicina, Universidad de Guadalajara), 44280 Guadalajara, Jalisco, Me ´xico: 2 Doctorado en Ciencias de la Salud Pu ´blica, Centro Universitario de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Guadalajara, Jalisco, Me ´xico: 3 Licenciatura en Nutricio ´n, Centro Universitario de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Guadalajara, Jalisco, Me ´xico: 4 Unitat de Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pu ´blica, Facultat de Medicina i Cie `ncies de la Salut, IISPV, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Reus, Espan ˜a: 5 CIBER Fisiopatologı ´a de la Obesidad y Nutricio ´ n (CIBERobn), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Espan ˜a: 6 Unitat de Nutricio ´ Humana, Facultat de Medicina i Cie `ncies de la Salut, Hospital Universitari de Sant Joan de Reus, IISPV, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Reus, Espan ˜a Submitted 9 July 2010: Accepted 20 October 2010: First published online 13 April 2011 Abstract Objective: To assess the available data on the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) in Latin-American countries. Design: Systematic review. Searches were carried out in PubMed, ISIWeb, SCielo and Redalyc, using ‘metabolic syndrome x’ and ‘prevalence’ as keywords for titles and/or abstracts. Articles selected were cross-sectional studies in Latin-American countries, whose main objective was to study MS and whose study population is described below. MS must be determined using Adult Treatment Panel III criteria. Twelve studies with these criteria were selected, one of which was multi-centric. Setting: Latin America. Subjects: Apparently healthy subjects aged 18–65 years (including young adult, mature adult and elderly populations) of both genders. Results: The general prevalence (weighted mean) of MS in Latin-American countries was 24?9 (range: 18?8–43?3) %. MS was slightly more frequent in women (25?3 %) than in men (23?2 %), and the age group with the highest prevalence of MS consisted of those over 50 years of age. The most frequent components of MS were low HDL cholesterol levels (62?9 %) and abdominal obesity (45?8 %). Similar outcomes were obtained from the multi-centre study on Latin-American popu- lations analysed. Conclusions: The present review brings us closer to an understanding of the prevalence of MS in Latin-American countries. However, it is not possible to know the full scope of the problem, partly because data from some countries are not available, and because the methodological differences among the studies published up to the present limit a joint analysis of their results. Keywords Metabolic syndrome CVD Latin America A description of metabolic syndrome In 1998, Reaven (1) defined metabolic syndrome (MS), also known as X syndrome, as a conglomerate of coronary risk factors. Since that time, the definition of MS has been modified by a number of experts (2–4) . Although the different definitions of MS generally include the same components, they differ in the assignment of each com- ponent’s importance for the diagnosis of MS (for instance, number of criteria, hierarchy of components). The definition provided by the Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP III) seems to be more ‘equitable’ (5) , given that it does not establish a hierarchal relationship among the five components: abdominal obesity (AO), glucose alterations, hypertension (HT), hypertriacylglycerolaemia and low HDL cholesterol levels. In addition, ATP III is one of the most internationally accepted and used definitions, as well as the most up-to-date as a result of its high use and analysis (3,6,7) . Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that, in the latter part of 2009, prominent institutions such as the *Corresponding author: Email bvizmanos@cucs.udg.mx, bvizmanos@yahoo.com.mx r The Authors 2011 https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980010003320 Published online by Cambridge University Press