ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Life style has been shown to improve risk factors comprising the metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is a prime candidate for lifestyle modification utilizing the tools of exercise, nutritional therapy and so on. Therefore, we examined the prevalence of metabolic syndrome according to health behaviors. METHODS: A total of 1,240 adults were recruited into this cross-sectional study. The subjects were examined on body mass index, waist circumference, blood pressure, and lipid profile. Medical history was reviewed and daily calorie intake was examined by food frequency questionnaire. Six healthy behaviors, sleeping hours, smoking, drinking, exercise, calorie intake and body weight of subjects, were examined. Each healthy behaviors were categorized into three groups. Metabolic syndrome as diagnosed by ATP III criteria. RESULTS: The study subjects consisted of 57.1% men and 42.9% women. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 14.3%. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was lower in the group with good healthy behaviors. The subjects with more good healthy behaviors had a lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome than those with less good healthy behaviors (0, 50.0%; 1, 41.0%; 2, 30.6%; 3, 13.8%; 4, 8.5%; 5, 5.3%; and 6, 4.3%). Relative to the subjects with high good health behavior score, those with low good health behavior score were at significantly increased risk of metabolic syndrome (odds ratio = 4.25, 95% CI 2.97-6.08). CONCLUSION: The subjects with much more good healthy behaviors had a substantially lower risk of being diagnosed with the metabolic syndrome compared to those with lesser good healthy behaviors. This finding suggests that lifestyle modification may be appropriate as the first-line intervention to metabolic syndrome.