摘要：The aim of this research is to realize a comparative study of the prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome (MS) according to the ALAD, ATPIII-2005 and IDF/NHLBI/AHA-2009 criteria in the adult urban population of Cuenca-Ecuador. This is an analytical, cross-sectional study with randomized, multistaged sampling, realized in the city of Cuenca-Ecuador, in 318 subjects of both genders, aged 18 years and older. MS prevalence was estimated with ALAD, ATPIII-2005 and IDF/NHLBI/AHA-2009 criteria. The level of agreement was assessed with Cohen’s Kappa. The prevalence of MS was 51.6% (n=164) according to IDF/NHLBI/AHA-2009 criteria, 43.4% (n=138) by ATPIII criteria, and 43.4% (n=138) by ALAD criteria. No differences were found among MS prevalence estimates in regards to gender and sociodemographic variables. Statistically significant agreement was ascertained between ATPIII and ALAD (k=0,885; p=4,41x10-56); and between ATPIII and IDF/NHLBI/AHA-2009 (k=0,837; p=1,01x10-51), and ALAD and IDF/NHLBI/AHA-2009 (k=0,837; p=1,01x10-51). The prevalence of MS in Cuenca-Ecuador was high according to ALAD, ATPIII-2005 and IDF/NHLBI/AHA-2009 criteria, with a near perfect degree of agreement, especially between ATPIII and ALAD. Because central obesity is the differential criterion among these definitions, future studies should explore the determination of waist circumference cutoff values adequate for the authochtonous characteristics of each population.
