Metabolic syndrome drives the cardiovascular disease risk disparity for young and middle-age Hispanics more than for other women, according to a large community-based study of 6,843 women

Overall, increasing age was associated with a higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome. However, compared with white and black women, Hispanics had the highest rates across all ages in the cross-sectional study. The Hispanic women aged 30-65 years had the greatest disparity in metabolic syndrome rates, suggesting this age group is at particular risk. Researchers assessed data from Sister to Sister: The Women’s Heart Health Foundation collected through free health screenings in 17 U.S. cities. In 2008 and 2009, 18,892 women were screened for obesity (using both body mass index and waist circumference), hypertension, hyperglycemia, and dyslipidemia. These women also completed cardiovascular risk questionnaires. Nearly 7,000 women had complete clinical and demographic data and were studied further. A total 42% self-identified as non-Hispanic white, 37% as black, 13% as Hispanic, and 8% as "other" race or ethnicity. Overall prevalence of metabolic syndrome in the study was high, at 35%. In addition, "there was a disproportionate burden for Hispanic women and black women," said Dr. Rodriguez, an internal medicine resident at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. A total 40% of Hispanic women met the criteria for metabolic syndrome, as did 39% of black women, 31% of non-Hispanic white women, and 29% of women who identified as "other." For Hispanic woman, much of the disparity is driven by abnormal lipid levels. "Many of these women have high triglyceride levels and low HDL levels ... and this disparity was most pronounced in young women," Dr. Rodriguez said. "It is a different pattern than the metabolic syndrome in black women, where it’s largely driven by waist circumference and hypertension." In addition to assessment of race/ethnicity and age, a third objective of the study was to identify risk-adjusted predictors of metabolic syndrome. The No.1 predictor was Hispanic ethnicity (odds ratio, 1.65), followed by being black (OR, 1.39), compared with non-Hispanic whites. Smoking also was an independent predictor for the syndrome (OR, 1.30), as was increasing age (OR, 1.13).