Objective: To study the metabolic syndrome (MS) in Indian subjects with type 2 diabetes (T2D) in comparing them with controls from the Indian community and from the general population.
Method: An adapted definition of MS by the Third report of the National Cholesterol Education Program's Adult Treatment Panel III was used. We defined three groups matched for sex and age (+/-5 years). Non parametric tests for comparison of matched samples and conditional logistic regression were used.
Results: We selected 71 Indians with T2D (group 1) and two control groups with fasting blood glucose<6.1 mmol/L: 71 Indians (group 2) and 213 subjects from the general population (group 3). Patients were 24 to 76 years-old and each group contained 56% men. Globally, MS was identified in 77% of the group 1 when diabetes was taken into account. When diabetes was excluded there were 47% of MS in group 1, 18% in group 2 and 16% in group 3. The clusters of four factors (hypertension, large waist circumference, hypertriglyceridemia and Low HDL-C) were more common in Indians. The most frequent factors were hypertriglyceridemia and large waist circumference in Indians. Indians with T2D had a 5-fold higher risk of MS than the general population group, OR (95% CI): 4.93 (2.71 - 8.97); P<0.001.
Conclusion: The high frequency of MS and of hypertriglyceridemia in Indians with T2D highlights the need for screening and management of MS in this population facing a high cardiovascular risk.