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Subject Area

Pediatrics

Article Type

Erratum

Abstract

I read an interesting study by Mahrous et al. on the epidemiology of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in Menoufia University students published in the July to September 2018 issue of the Menoufia Medical Journal. On using Adult Treatment Panel‑III (ATP‑III) guidelines, the authors found that the overall MetS prevalence was 16.7%, which was more common among female students. The most prevalent MetS components were noticed to be increased waist circumference (41.8%), high triglyceride levels (40.2%), and reduced high‑density lipoprotein‑cholesterol levels (36.3%). I presume that these results ought to be interpreted cautiously. This is based on the presence of the following methodological limitation related to the MetS definition criteria employed in the study. It is explicit that in the clinical settings and researches, many definitions criteria for MetS are present, including ATP‑III, American Heart Association, International Diabetes Federation (IDF), WHO, and Joint Interim Statement. Importantly, inconsistent consensus on the precision of these criteria to diagnose MetS has been noticed. In Egypt, the estimation of the MetS prevalence using different criteria revealed various results, namely, 42.5% (ATP‑III definition), 43.8% (American Heart Association definition), 44.3% (IDF definition), 33.8% (IDF definition with Egyptian cutoffs), and 41.5% (Joint Interim Statement with Egyptian cutoffs). As many countries have constructed their own diagnostic MetS criteria, I presume that the construction of the national Egyptian MetS definition criteria could better measure MetS prevalence in patients with various health disorders. In spite of the already mentioned limitation, the high reported MetS prevalence in the studied population (16.7%) must trigger the need for implementing strategic actions to minimize the future adverse cardiovascular aftermaths among university students.

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