There is very limited information available about the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in the United States. This project proposes to determine the prevalence of MetS, and knowledge and awareness of concepts related to MetS, in the student body of The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. MetS is categorized as a constellation of metabolic risk factors that increase the risk of developing heart disease, diabetes and having a stroke. According to the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATP III), to have a positive diagnosis of MetS requires the presence of three of the following risk factors: abdominal obesity through measurement of waist circumference, elevated triglycerides, depressed high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels, hypertension, and impaired fasting blood glucose.
This project proposes as minimum of 200 participants. Participants will be required to visit the Exercise Physiology Laboratory in the Department of Health and Human Performance located at M1 Building in Brownsville Campus on 2 separate time periods. On the first day, participants will be required to read and sign an informed consent form, they will also be asked to complete a Dietary Screener Questionnaire, Godin’s Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire and Metabolic Syndrome Questionnaire. Afterwards, baseline anthropometric measurement will be recorded; including height, weight, resting blood pressure, resting heart rate, hip and waist circumference, and body composition. Lastly, participants will be assigned an accelerometer to accurately quantify their physical activity level. They will be asked to wear the accelerometers for 7 consecutive days. For the second visit, participants will return the accelerometers and give fasted blood samples, to record total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol/HDL ratio, and fasting plasma glucose.
