Effect of an intensive lifestyle intervention on the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its components among overweight and obese adults

BACKGROUND: Despite the fact that up to a third of the global population has metabolic syndrome (MetS), it has been overlooked in clinical settings. This study assesses the impact of a physician-supervised nonsurgical weight management program on the prevalence of MetS and its key indicators. METHODS: Four-hundred seventy-nine overweight and obese participants aged 19 years or older were included in a prospective longitudinal study. Changes in MetS and its key indicators were assessed using the binomial exact, chi-square and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests in an intent-to-treat study population. Differences in age strata were assessed using a generalized linear model. RESULTS: Fifty-two percent of participants (n = 249) had MetS at baseline. Prevalence of MetS decreased steadily with significant changes from baseline observed at weeks 13 (31.8%, P < 0.0001), 26 (28.7%, P < 0.0012) and 39 (21.6%, P < 0.0002); changes from baseline were observed at week 52 as statistically significant (16.7%, P < 0.0012). Improvements in anthropometrics and levels of key indicators of MetS were observed throughout the study. CONCLUSION: These findings confirm that weight loss is inversely associated with prevalence of MetS and its key indicators among overweight and obese individuals. Future studies may benefit from a larger sample size and better retention (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT03588117).