Cardiovascular risk factors in diabetic patients with and without metabolic syndrome: a study based on the Rafsanjan cohort study

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death and disability in people with diabetes mellitus (DM), since finding the correlation between DM and CVD risk factors can be effective in preventing the incidence of morbidity and mortality in patients. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in people with and without metabolic syndrome (MtS) in DM. This cross-sectional study was part of the Rafsanjan Cohort Study as part of the comprehensive Persian (Prospective Epidemiological Research Studies in IRAN) on 35–70-year old adults with and without MtS in DM. Indicators of CVD risk factors, including gender, age, blood pressure, dyslipidemia, smoking, alcohol consumption, fasting blood sugar, creatinine, blood urea, waist circumference, body mass index, family history, physical inactivity, and fruit and vegetable consumption, were collected in the Persian Cohort Questionnaire. The data was analyzed by SPSS software version 22. The prevalence of MtS in 1933 participants was estimated to be 80% (95% confidence interval 78.1–81.8%). In the logistic regression model, smoking, alcohol consumption, and triglycerides were identified as the factors associated with MtS. Our results show that, based on our study, the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in DM was high. The suggested solutions in this field are to reduce smoking and alcohol consumption, as well as to control hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and being overweight.