Metabolic syndrome among garage workers in the automobile industry in Kumasi, Ghana

Abstract

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is associated with cardiovascular diseases and diabetes but little is known about its prevalence among the active healthy population whose occupational activity is mainly manual and energy based. The aim of this study therefore, was to determine the prevalence of MetS and its components among garage workers in the automobile industry using three existing definitions. Two hundred garage workers were recruited from Bantama (86) and Sofoline (114) in Kumasi, Ghana. Anthropometric measurements including body mass index (BMI), waist to hip ratio (WHR) and waist to height ratio (WHtR) were measured. Blood pressure of subjects was also taken. Laboratory analysis included fasting blood sugar (FBS), total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). The prevalence of MetS among the studied population was 18%, 16% and 13% using NCEP ATP III, WHO and IDF criteria respectively. Reduced HDL-cholesterol was the most prevalent component for ATP III (38.5%); central obesity was the most prevalent component for WHO (53.0%) and raised FBS was the most prevalent component for the IDF definition (54.0%). MetS seems to be on the increase among the manually active population even in the absence of obesity. There is therefore, an urgent need for a health policy shift towards control and prevention of MetS in Ghanaians.