Prevalence of metabolic syndrome in Chinese renal transplant recipients.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in Chinese renal transplant recipients, using two different sets of diagnostic criteria. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SETTING Regional hospital, Hong Kong. PATIENTS All Chinese patients who received solitary living-related or cadaveric kidney transplantation from 1 July 1997 to 31 December 2005 in our hospital with follow-up of more than 6 months were recruited. The diagnosis of metabolic syndrome was made according to the National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATPIII) criteria and the International Diabetes Federation criteria. RESULTS Using the modified (Asian) NCEP-ATPIII criteria, a total of 39 (32%) of 121 patients had metabolic syndrome, which included 20/69 (29%) of the males and 19/52 (37%) of the females. Using the International Diabetes Federation criteria, metabolic syndrome was diagnosed in 26% of the patients, 22% in males and 31% in females. In our patients, the most common component of metabolic syndrome was hypertension and the least common was low high-density-lipoprotein-cholesterol level. Low high-density-lipoprotein-cholesterol levels were significantly more common in female patients. CONCLUSION This study shows that there is a high prevalence of metabolic syndrome in our Chinese renal transplant recipients.