Our objective was to estimate the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome using the 2007 pediatric International Diabetes Federation (IDF) definition among adolescents in the U.S. We used data from 2,014 participants aged 12-17 years of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2004. The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome for the period 1999-2004 was approximately 4.5% ( approximately 1.1 million adolescents aged 12-17 years in 2006). It increased with age, was higher among males (6.7%) than females (2.1%) (P = 0.006), and was highest among Mexican-American adolescents (7.1%). The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome was relatively stable across the 6-year period: 4.5% for 1999-2000, 4.4-4.5% for 2001-2002, and 3.7-3.9% for 2003-2004 (P for linear trend >0.050). Our results provide the first estimates of the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome using the pediatric IDF definition among adolescents in the U.S.
