Metabolic Syndrome Does Not Detect Metabolic Risk in African Men Living in the U.S.

Abstract

OBJECTIVEMetabolic risk and metabolic syndrome (MetSyn) prevalence were compared in Africans who immigrated to the U.S. and African Americans. If MetSyn were an effective predictor of cardiometabolic risk, then the group with a worse metabolic risk profile would have a higher rate of MetSyn.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSCross-sectional analyses were performed on 95 men (39 Africans, 56 African Americans, age 38 ± 6 years [mean ± SD]). Glucose tolerance was determined by oral glucose tolerance test, visceral adipose tissue (VAT) was determined by computerized tomography, and MetSyn was determined by the presence of three of five factors: central obesity, hypertriglyceridemia, low levels of HDL cholesterol, hypertension, and fasting hyperglycemia.RESULTSMetSyn prevalence was similar in Africans and African Americans (10 vs. 13%, P = 0.74), but hypertension, glycemia (fasting and 2-h glucose), and VAT were higher in Africans.CONCLUSIONSAfrican immigrants have a worse metabolic profile than African Americans but a similar prevalence of MetSyn. Therefore, MetSyn may underpredict metabolic risk in Africans.

Triglyceride-Based Screening Tests Fail to Recognize Cardiometabolic Disease in African Immigrant and African-American Men

“…In an earlier investigation, we found that metabolic syndrome performed poorly in predicting cardiometabolic risk in Africans. 27 Specifically, the prevalence of hypertension and hyperglycemia was twice as high in Africans than African Americans, but the prevalence of metabolic syndrome was the same. Therefore, the metabolic syndrome did not detect Africans with increased metabolic risk.…”

“…Sixty percent of the men had participated in a previous study of the metabolic syndrome. 27 African Americans were born in the United States with both parents self-identifying as African Americans born in the United States. Africans were born in Africa (55% west, 30% central, 15% east) and immigrated to the Washington, DC, area [age at immigration 26 -8 years (mean -standard deviation (SD), years in United States 10 -10 years].…”

“…Blood samples for the measurement of glucose and insulin levels were obtained at -10, -5, -1, 1, 2, 3,4,5,6,7,8,10,12,14,16,19,22,23,24,25,27,30,40,50,60,70,80,90, 100, 120, 150, and 180 min. IM-FSIGT data were used to calculate the insulin sensitivity index (S I ) and acute insulin response to glucose (AIRg).…”

Trends in Metabolic Syndrome Severity and Lifestyle Factors Among Adolescents

“…[9][10][11][12][13][14] This is a concern because non-Hispanic-black individuals have higher rates of T2DM and CVD despite low rates of ATP-III MetS diagnosis. [15][16][17][18][19] The recently developed MetS Severity Score (MetS z score) calculator addresses the epidemiologic limitations of the ATP-III criteria. 20,21 This tool accounts for differences in MetS by race/ethnicity and gender.…”

Ethnic and Gender Susceptibility to Metabolic Risk

“…The metabolic syndrome is variably expressed in the general population. [4][5][6] In this study, we examined variable manifestations of the components of the syndrome in white, black, and Hispanic men and women of the Dallas Heart Study (DHS). 7 Categorical risk factors were plotted as a function of waist circumference (WC), which is the usual measure of obesity employed to identify the syndrome.…”