[Critical analysis of WHO, IDF and NCEP criteria for metabolic syndrome among patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus].

Objective: To evaluate the frequency of the metabolic syndrome (MS) among adults with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) according to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) and World Health Organization (WHO) criteria, analyzing each one comparatively. Secondarily we assessed whether MS is associated with microvascular complications, age, diabetes duration and glycemic control.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with 101 patients.

Results: Thirty-two percent, 32% and 26% of the patients were classified as having MS accordingly to WHO, IDF and NCEP criteria. A marked increase in MS was observed in patients with microalbuminuria (MAU) when compared with patients without MAU and this increase was more significant according to by WHO criteria.

Conclusions: MS is a frequent finding in T1DM, and the study indicates that WHO criteria may be preferable to identify patients with MS in this group.