lass=""h4"">Background and objective
The aim of the present study was to evaluate possible differences in the impact of the components of metabolic syndrome (MS) on hypertensive patients from countries in Latin America and Spain.
lass=""h4"">Patients and method
Cross-sectional study in 632 hypertensives with MS recruited in Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Mexico, Chile, Venezuela and Colombia. Demographic and clinical data, as well as the impact of every single component of the MS were evaluated and compared depending on the country they came from.
lass=""h4"">Results
Mean age was 55(14) years, with 54 % females. Thirty-eight percent presented 3 MS criteria, 40 % presented 4 criteria, and 22 % all the 5 criteria. There were no differences among countries in relation to triglyceride mean values. Subjects from Brazil, Mexico, and Spain showed the highest values of fasting plasma glucose. Women from Venezuela and Brazil showed the highest values of waist circumference and women from Venezuela and Chile the lowest values of HDL-cholesterol. With respect to the proportion of patients with each component alteration, those from Venezuela showed the highest proportion of hypertriglyceridemia (83 % ) and low HDL-cholesterol (77 % ), whereas those from Spain exhibited the lowest (56 % and 40 % ).
lass=""h4"">Conclusions
The impact of the components of MS is relatively homogeneous in Latin-America and Spain. However, some differences are detected, with atherogenic dyslipidemia being the predominant factor in Venezuela and abnormal fasting plasma glucose the main one in Spain.
