At-risk serum cholesterol profile at both ends of the nutrition spectrum in West African adults? The Benin study.

Low HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C), using as cut-offs 1.03 mmol/L in men and 1.29 mmol/L in women, was observed in more than 25% apparently healthy adults (n = 541) in a cross-sectional study on nutrition transition and cardiometabolic risk factors (CMRF) in Benin, West Africa.

Lifestyle and dietary factors associated with the evolution of cardiometabolic risk over four years in West-African adults: the Benin study.

Aim: To assess in adults from Benin changes in cardiometabolic risk (CMR) using both the Framingham risk score (FRS) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) and to examine the effects of diet, and lifestyles, controlling for location and socioeconomic status.

Methods: Apparently healthy subjects (n = 541) aged 25-60 years and randomly selected in the largest city, a small town, and rural areas were included in the four-year longitudinal study. Along with CMR factors, socioeconomic, diet and lifestyle data were collected in individual interviews.

Abdominal obesity explains the positive rural-urban gradient in the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in Benin, West Africa.

This cross-sectional study was designed to verify the hypothesis that there is a positive rural-urban gradient in the overall prevalence of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components and that the differences are associated with socioeconomic status, a sedentary lifestyle, and poor diet quality. A sample of 541 Beninese adults apparently healthy was randomly selected from rural (n = 170), semi-urban (n = 171), and urban (n = 200) areas. The MetS was defined according to the International Diabetes Federation.