Background In Taiwan, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome among people over the age of 20 years is as high as 19.7%. With the increase in age, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome is even higher, with the prevalence being more than 30 years among those aged 45–65 years. Notably, very limited follow-up studies have examined the incidence and risk factors of metabolic syndrome among workers of different job categories in Taiwan.

Methods We conducted a retrospective follow-up study that included 6,284 Taiwanese subjects who had been working in the same job category for 5 years and who received periodic health checkups at a regional hospital from 2006 to 2017 to better understand the incidence rate and risk factors of metabolic syndrome in Taiwan. All participants’ demographic data and health examination data were then analyzed. Metabolic syndrome was diagnosed according to the criteria proposd by the US National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Third Report of the Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (ATP III).

Results After an average follow-up of 6.0 years, the incidence rate of metabolic syndrome among workers who had been working in the same job category for five years was 32.42 per 1000 person-years. Moreover, the largest number of cases with metabolic syndrome appeared in the transportation industry.

Conclusion The results of this study should help the employers of various industries to better plan health education and monitoring programs of their employees to ameliorate the incidence of metabolic syndrome.