• Colombo based study finds preponderance of metabolic syndrome, diabetes, obesity 

Metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and obesity appear to be significant health related problems, especially among females in urban slum areas, which in turn require targeted control programmes.

Metabolic syndrome is a condition that includes a cluster of risk factors specific for cardiovascular disease, and which includes abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, impaired fasting glucose, high triglyceride (a type of fat, called lipid, that circulates in the blood) levels, and low high-density lipoprotein (absorbs cholesterol [a waxy, fat like substance found in all the cells in the body, and which is needed to make hormones, vitamin D, and substances that help one digest foods] in the blood and carries it back to the liver) cholesterol levels.

These findings were made in a poster presentation on the “Prevalence of metabolic syndrome and diabetes in an urban slum area and semi urban area, Colombo” which was authored by D.R.S.R. Danasekara, J.M.K.C. Jeewandara, J. Jayamali, H.Chathurangika, I.S. Aberathna, D. Peranantharajah, H.S. Colambage, L. Perera, I. Randini, R.H. Wickramanayake, M. Karunananda, T. Nimasha, S. Tanussuya and G.N. Malavige (all 14 attached to the University of Sri Jayewardenepura’s Faculty of Medical Sciences’ Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine’s Allergy, Immunology and Cell Biology Unit), D. Guruge, R. Wijayamuni and C. Jayampathi (all three attached to the Colombo Municipal Council), H. Hacker (attached to the United States of America’s University of Michigan’s Department of Epidemiology), and G.S. Ogg (attached to the United Kingdom’s University of Oxford’s Medical Research Council [MRC] Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine’s MRC Human Immunology Unit), and published as an abstract in September of this year in the first supplement of the 55th volume of the Journal of the Ceylon College of Physicians as part of the 2023 annual academic sessions of the College.

The prevalence of non-communicable diseases is on the rise, leading to cardiovascular disease and stroke, which are the leading causes of death in Sri Lanka. 

Danasekara et al.’s study was in urban slums and semi-urban areas in Colombo. A total of 1,300 participants between the ages of 18 to 80 years were randomly recruited from urban slums (694) and semi-urban areas (606). The fasting blood sugar, the lipid profile, blood pressure and anthropometric measurements were taken at the time of recruitment. 

The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was significantly higher in the urban slum area (335 out of 694/48.27%) compared to the semi-urban area (237 out of 606/39.11%). A total of 241 out of 606 (39.77%) in the semi-urban area and 280 out of 694 (40.34%) in the urban slum area had diabetes, which was not significant. The prevalence of metabolic disease was significantly higher among females of all age groups compared to males, while there was no difference in the prevalence of diabetes with gender and age. The prevalence of metabolic disease was highest in females aged 51-60 years in the urban slum area which was 68 out of 93 (73.11%), and the prevalence of diabetes was the highest among females aged 61-70 years, which was 54 out of 73 (73.9%), again in the urban slum area. A total of 146 out of 426 (43.8%) of the females in the urban slum area were obese (body mass index above 30) and 283 out of 426 (66.43%) had central obesity.