Objectives To explore the gender difference of the prevalence and associated factors of metabolic syndrome among hospital staff based on the health examination.

Methods To understand the morbidity of metabolic syndrome, we analysed the database of the health examination of the workers in a medical centre in northern Taiwan. The definition of metabolic syndrome is according to the criteria proposed by Department of Health in 2007, Taiwan. Due to the limitation of the examination, the total cholesterol is used to replace the HDL-C value.

Results There are 1203 subjects (male 424 (35.2%) and female 779 (64.8%)) included in this study. The mean age is 40.20±10.59 years. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome is 16.3% and male (24.8%) is significant higher than female (11.7%) (p<0.01). Based on the components of the abnormal criteria of metabolic syndrome, the results show that the highest proportion is higher blood pressure, higher triglyceride, and higher total cholesterol (3.5%) in male and higher waist circumference, higher blood pressure, and higher total cholesterol (2.2%) in female. From the multiple logistic regression, gender difference is found in associated factors related to metabolic syndrome after adjustment for confounding factors. The abnormal waist circumference is the most significant risk factor related to metabolic syndrome both in the male (OR=1.16, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.24) and in the female (OR=1.12, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.21).

Conclusions Higher waist circumference is the most significant risk factor related to metabolic syndrome. It is important to encourage hospital staff with the exercise habit, dietary improvement, and controlled central obesity.