Metabolic syndrome in indigenous communities in Mexico: a descriptive and cross-sectional study.

Background: An Amerindian genetic background could play an important role in susceptibility to metabolic diseases, which have alarmingly increased in recent decades. Mexico has one of the highest prevalences of metabolic disease worldwide. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its components in a population with high Amerindian ancestry.

Surveillance of acute health effects of air pollution in Mexico City.

Background: A unique, active, timely, low-cost surveillance system for the metropolitan area of Mexico City was established in the mid-1990s.

Methods: The system obtained upper and lower respiratory tract symptoms and eye symptoms from daily interviews for a systematic sample of the general nonhospitalized population living within a 2-km radius of air pollution monitors during 1996-1997.

Results: Ozone increments (10 ppb) were associated with upper respiratory symptoms (odds ratio [OR] = 1.