OBJECTIVETo compare the applicability of the three diagnostic criteria for metabolic syndrome (MS) proposed by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) in 2005, Adult Treatment Panel III of National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP-ATP III) in 2005 and Chinese Diabetes Socie (CDS) in 2004.

METHODSBased on the findings of cohort study of multiple metabolic disorders and metabolic syndrome (1971 cases) in Jiangsu province, MS was diagnosed according to these three definitions respectively, and by calculating the sensitivity, specificity, and ROC curve distance, those with lower false positive and false negative rates were identified as to detecting cardio vascular diseases (CVD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). While, through Cox regression analysis, to compare their relative risk (RR) and 95% confidential interval (CI) was wade.

RESULTSAmong three diagnostic criteria, the specificity by CDS of MS was higher than the other criteria (83.52%, 76.36%, 89.57%; 85.02%, 78.67%, 92.28%), however the sensitivity of CDS of MS was low (40.82%, 29.47%). When using CDS, over 50 percent of diagnosis might be missed. ATP III definition corresponded to the shortest distance in ROC curve, namely, at the diagnostic criteria, the rates of false positive and false negative for identifying clustering of CVD and T2DM were minimum (0.4369; 0.5777). The incidence of CVD [5.59 (2.62 - 11.92) vs 2.90 (1.41 - 5.93)], T2DM [3.36 (1.92 - 5.79) vs 1.97 (1.16 - 3.34)] was significantly higher in cases of ATP III+/IDF-than ATP III+/IDF+, as compared with ATP III-/IDF-.

CONCLUSIONAmong three diagnostic criteria, the ATP III definition of the MS should be the most applicable diagnostic criteria for MS in Jiangsu population.