Molecular and Genetic Medicine

A Review on Underlying Differences in the Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome in the Middle East, Europe and North America

Abstract

Mohsen Nematy, Farnaz Ahmadpour, Zahra Behnam Rassouli, Hosein Mohaddes Ardabili and Mohsen Azimi-Nezhad

Increasing burden of obesity, the metabolic syndrome (MetS), Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM), and CardioVascular Diseases (CVD) in developing countries has created an urgent need for more researches on the various factors responsible for increasing their prevalence. Literature search was carried out using the terms obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes, dyslipidemia, physical inactivity, the metabolic syndrome, and developing countries, in order to review the criteria and risk factors of MetS and its prevalence in Middle East countries from web sites and published documents. The prevalence of the syndrome and its underlying factors was also compared between some of the Middle East and some of European and American countries. The pattern of the components of metabolic syndrome varies in the Middle East region in comparison with Europe and North America. In addition to differences of diet behaviors, the genetic factors and some of geographic dependent elements may influence the variation of metabolic syndrome architecture worldwide particularly in the Middle East region.