Predictors of metabolic syndrome among adults in Ethiopia

Background Available evidence showed that metabolic syndrome in the adult
population is persistently elevated due to nutrition transition, genetic
predisposition, individual-related lifestyle factors, and other
environmental risks. However, in developing nations, the burden and
scientific evidence on the pattern, and risk exposures for the development
of the metabolic syndrome were not adequately investigated. Thus, the
study aimed to measure the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and to
identify specific risk factors among adult populations who visited Dessie
Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Ethiopia. Methods A hospital-based
cross-sectional study was conducted among randomly selected 419 adults
attending Dessie Comprehensive Specialized Hospital from January 25 to
February 29, 2020. We used the WHO STEP-wise approach for non-communicable
disease surveillance to assess participants’ disease condition. Metabolic
syndrome was measured using the harmonized criteria recommended by the
International Diabetes Federation Task Force in 2009. Data were explored
for missing values, outliers, and multicollinearity before presenting the
summary statistics and regression results.  Multivariable
logistic regression was used to disentangle statistically significant
predictors of metabolic syndrome expressed using an odds ratio with a 95%
of uncertainty interval. All statistical tests were managed using SPSS
version 26.  A non-linear dose-response analysis was performed to
show the relationships between metabolic syndrome with potential risk
factors. Results The overall prevalence of metabolic syndrome among adults
was 35.0 %( 95% CI, (30.5, 39.8)). Women were more affected than men (i.e.
40.3% vs 29.4%).  After adjusting for other variables, being
female [OR=1.85; 95% CI (1.01, 3.38)], urban residence [OR=1.94; 95% CI
(1.08, 3.24)], increased age [OR= 18.23; 95% CI (6.66, 49.84)], 
shorter sleeping durations [OR= 4.62; 95% CI (1.02, 20.98)], sedentary
behaviour[OR=4.05; 95% CI (1.80, 9.11)], obesity[OR=3.14; 95% CI (1.20,
8.18) and alcohol drinking[OR=2.85; 95% CI (1.27,6.39)] were positively
associated with the adult metabolic syndrome. Whilst have no formal
education [OR=0.30; 95% CI (0.12, 0.74)] was negatively associated with
metabolic syndrome. Conclusions The prevalence of the adult metabolic
syndrome is found to be high. Metabolic syndrome has linear relationships
with BMI, physical activity, sleep duration, and level of education. The
demographic and behavioral factors are strongly related to the risk of
metabolic syndrome. Since most of the factors are modifiable, there should
be urgent large-scale community intervention programs focusing on
increased physical activity, healthy sleep, weight management, minimizing
behavioral risk factors, and healthier food interventions targeting a
lifecycle approach. The existing policy should be evaluated whether due
attention has been given to prevention strategies of NCDs.