Introduction fatty deposition occurs under the skin in the anterior abdominal wall, buttocks, in the arterial wall, inside the liver (causing fatty liver) and other parts of the body. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of abnormalities that tend to occur together in some individuals. 1 These include abdominal obesity, insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, dyslipidemia, and high blood pressure. This syndrome is associated with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and death. 2 Multiple diagnostic criteria have been proposed for detecting MetS. 3 Abdominal obesity is defined as having a waist measurement of at least 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women. Insulin resistance is the inability of the body to use the hormone insulin effectively to regulate sugars and carbohydrates properly. Insulin resistance results in a fasting blood glucose level of 106 mg/dL or higher. High blood pressure is loosely defined as a consistent reading of 130/84 mm Hg or higher. There are often no other signs and symptoms of insulin resistance and high blood pressure for years until complications occur. 4 Hypercholesterolemia or hyperlipidemia is a high level of total cholesterol in the blood. A blood level of triglycerides of 150 mg/dL or higher or a blood level of HDL below 40 mg/dL is considered a symptom of MetS. 2 Modernization, economic development, and technological advances have brought rapid demographic and epidemiological Background and objective: There has been a recent concern about chronic non-communicable diseases in Iraq. The country is undergoing an epidemiological transition with an increasing burden of chronic non-communicable diseases with two-thirds of the people aged 25-65 years old are overweight and one-third are obese. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome with their associated risk factors among a sample of peoples in Erbil city. Methods: This cross-sectional analytic study was carried out in Erbil city and involved a convenience sample of 566 apparently healthy subjects. A structured direct interview using interviewer administered questionnaire was applied. Anthropometric measures, random blood sugar, cholesterol level, triglyceride level, low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein were investigated. Results: The prevalence of metabolic syndrome in the studied sample was 30.6%. The prevalence was higher in females (45.5%) than males (16.3%). Variables like gender (P <0.001), age (P = 0.008), education and marriage (P = 0.001), family history of diabetes mellitus (P = 0.029), hyperlipidemia (P <0.001), hypertension (P = 0.047) and obesity (P = 0.005) were found to be factors that significantly associated with metabolic syndrome. Conclusions: Metabolic syndrome is prevalent among the studied population. Female gender, old age, marriage, family history of diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, hypertension and obesity may be regarded as risk factors for metabolic syndrome.

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Background and objectives: Cardiac tachyarrhythmias are recurrent/chronic and mostly life-threatening conditions. Diagnosis and treatment of this condition is depending on its patterns and associated comorbidities. This study aimed to assess the pattern of tachyarrhythmia, identify the risk factors and determine the outcome of the management strategy Methods: A prospective observational study was carried out at cardiac center in Sulaimani Teaching Hospital from Januarys 2017 to December 2017. A total of sixty-three patients, aged between (20–90) years old, who presented to the emergency department with tachyarrhythmia were recruited to this study Results: The mean± SD of patients› age was 61.1 ± 16.6 years with a male: female ratio of (1.2). Atrial fibrillation was the commonest type of tachyarrhythmia (61.9%) followed by supraventricular tachycardia (25.4%) and Ventricular tachyarrhythmia (12.7%). Atrial fibrillation was more common in ages above 65 years (36.5%), and 19.1% of supraventricular tachycardia was present among females. Moreover, 14.3% of heart failure and 15.9% of ischemic heart disease were commonly associated with atrial fibrillation. In addition, 38.1% of atrial fibrillation was responded to rate control medications but most of ventricular arrhythmia (4.8%) received a combination of rate and rhythm control drugs. Higher rate of hemodynamic instability (12.7%) was recorded in patients with atrial fibrillation. Conclusions: Atrial fibrillation, supraventricular tachycardia, and ventricular arrhythmia were the commonest types of tachyarrhythmia. Moreover, aging, male gender, heart failure, and ischemic heart disease were significantly associated with atrial fibrillation. In addition, rate-control drugs were used for most of patients.