| Chapter 1: | Introduction |
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The objectives of this study were to (1) assess the associations between the constituents of the metabolic syndrome and examine the relative contribution of each component to the syndrome; (2) identify appropriate BMI cutoffs that best predict the metabolic syndrome for Chinese population; and (3) explore urbanization’s impact on each component of the metabolic syndrome.
Following this chapter, Chapter 2 provides an overview of the background that underlies this study. The specific research questions addressed in the study are also described in this chapter. The final section of this chapter reviews the design of China Nutrition Transition project, from which the data used for this monograph were derived. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 contain three individual papers that address each of the specific research questions separately. Each paper gives a detailed description of the background, study design, and analytic strategies. The results section of each paper is followed by a discussion on findings and applications. Chapter 3 focuses on the factor structure of the metabolic syndrome. Chapter 4 describes the relationship of BMI with metabolic syndrome and the identification of appropriate BMI cutoff to predict metabolic syndrome. Chapter 5 examines the urban-rural difference in the prevalence of metabolic syndrome. Finally, a summary of the results and a general discussion of the study are provided in Chapter 6.