Prevalence and distribution of metabolic syndrome and its components among provinces and ethnic groups in Indonesia

BACKGROUND: Global increase of metabolic syndrome (MetS) may have affected Indonesia, however, lack of data in this multiethnic group country warrants a nationwide study for MetS and its components. This study aims to determine the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its components among Indonesian people based on the province and ethnic groups. METHODS: We obtained 8573 subjects from the Indonesian Family Life Survey Wave 4 (IFLS4), spread over 20 provinces in Indonesia and consisting of 27 ethnic groups. MetS was operationalized according to an adapted Harmonized MetS definition. Prevalence ratios with 95% confidence interval were estimated using log-binomial regression. RESULTS: The prevalence of MetS in Indonesia is 21.66% with provincial prevalence ranging from 0 to 50%, while the ethnic prevalence ranging from 0 to 45.45%. Significant higher MetS prevalence ratios were found in Jakarta (PR 1.826; 95CI 1.628–2.048), West Nusa Tenggara (PR 1.412; 95CI: 1.222–1.630), West Sumatra (PR 1.404; 95CI: 1.202–1.641), East Java province (PR 1.109; 95CI: 1.001–1.229) and in Sasak (PR 1.532; 95CI:1.304–1.800), Minangkabau (PR 1.469; 95CI:1.251–1.726), Betawi (PR 1.597; 95CI:1.346–1.895), Acehnese ethnic group (PR 2.101; 95CI:1.099–4.020) while significant lower prevalence ratios were observed in Central Java (PR 0.668; 95CI: 0.580–0.770), Yogyakarta (PR 0.695; 95CI: 0.575–0.840), Banten (PR 0.718; 95CI: 0.533–0.968), Bali province (PR 0.724; 95CI: 0.590–0.889) and in Javanese (PR 0.855; 95CI:0.788–0.928), also Balinese ethnic groups (PR 0.669; 95CI:0.535–0.836). The highest prevalence of MetS components among Indonesians was low HDL cholesterol (66.41%), followed by hypertension (64.45%), and central obesity (43.21%). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of MetS in Indonesia is moderate with provincial and ethnic prevalence varied. Provincial and ethnic group differences in MetS prevalence ratios were observed. The top two most prevalent MetS components in Indonesian were low HDL cholesterol and hypertension. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-019-6711-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.