The Metabolic Syndrome in Rural UAE: The Effect of Gender, Ethnicity and the Environment in its Prevalence

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome and its individual components among multiethnic population in a rural area in the Western region of Abu Dhabi in The United Arab Emirates (UAE). Methods: The analytic sample consisted of 575 adults (males: 309, females: 266), between the age of 22 and 65 years. The National Cholesterol Education Program’s Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP/ATP III) guidelines (with race specific abdominal circumference cutoff level) were used to identify adults who met their criteria for metabolic syndrome with. Prevalence estimates were calculated for each component of the metabolic syndrome in addition to the overall prevalence of metabolic syndrome. Prevalence estimates were analyzed by sex, ethnicity and working hours. Results: Approximately 22% of adults met the criteria for metabolic syndrome. The prevalence was 26% in Males and 14% in females, P. Value <0.01. The prevalence was 16% among South East Asians (SEA), 20% among Arabs (ARB) and 26% among South Asians (SA), with P value of 0. 523, 0.075 and <0.05 for ARB versus SEA, ARB versus SA, and SA vs SEA respectively. The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome among night shift workers was 25% in comparison to 19% among daytime workers (P value 0.1). The prevalence of the different components of the metabolic syndrome varied by race and ethnicity Conclusions: These results demonstrate that metabolic syndrome is less prevalent in rural area than inner city population in UAE which was reported to be around 40% in previous studies possibly because of lifestyle differences. The prevalence varied significantly by race and ethnicity and gender. Night shift work was associated with higher prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in our study but this was not statistically significant.