The prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its components in Bragança District, North-Eastern Portugal: A retrospective observational cross-sectional study

Introduction: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is an independent determinant to increase the risk of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. MetS prevalence in Portugal is high, however an update is needed since the latest Portuguese epidemiological report is from 2017. Thus, this study aims to examine MetS prevalence and its components in the adult and older Portuguese sub-population (Bragança district). Methods: A retrospective observational cross-sectional was conducted with a community sample collected from two Portuguese primary health care centres between January 2019 and December 2020. A total of 6570 individuals aged 18–102 years were included for analysis, among which 3865 women (57.37 ± 18.67 years) and 2705 men (59.97 ± 16.76 years). MetS was defined according to HARM2009 statement and binary logistic regression was performed to analyse the prevalence across sex and age. Results: MetS prevalence in Bragança district was 54.51%. MetS prevalence was higher in men (61.63%) than women (49.52%). Men are 1.53 (95% OR: 1.37–1.72, p < 0.001) times more likely of having MetS compared to women. MetS risk increases with age (OR: 2.68–42.57, p < 0.001) with a decline from the eighties onwards (OR: 27.84, 95% CI: 19.19–40.38, p < 0.001). Men presented higher prevalence of overweight (48.50%) and obesity (28.06%) and women have higher prevalence of abdominal obesity (62.07%). Conclusion: This study reported high prevalence of MetS in the Portuguese sub-population (Bra-gança district). A quasi-linear increase across age was verified in the MetS prevalence for both sexes with a decline from the eighties onwards.