2. Abdul-Rahim,H., Husseini,A., Bjertness,E., Giacaman,R., Gordon,N., and Jervell,J. The Metabolic Syndrome in the West Bank Population: An urban-rural comparison  Diabetes Care 2001; 24,2:275-279.

This article compares the prevalence of components of the metabolic syndrome, including hypertension, abnormal glucose metabolism, dyslipidemia, central obesity, and overall obesity, between a rural and an urban Palestinian West Bank community. A total of 500 rural and 492 urban men and women aged 30-65 years participated in a community-based cross-sectional survey. Diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance were diagnosed using the oral glucose tolerance test. BMI, waist-to-hip ratio, and blood pressure were measured, and blood samples were taken from each subject. Sociodemographic characteristics were investigated using a questionnaire. The results were as follows: hypertriglyceridemia, low HDL cholesterol, overall obesity, and smoking were significantly more prevalent in the urban population, whereas central obesity was more prevalent in the rural population. Prevalence of hypertension was not significantly different between the rural and urban populations (25.4 and 21.5%, respectively; P = 0.15). The age-adjusted prevalence of diabetes were high: 11.3% (8.5-14.1 95% CI) and 13.9% (10.8-17.0) in the rural and urban populations, respectively, but not significantly different. In each community, the age-adjusted prevalence of the metabolic syndrome as defined by the World Health Organization was 17%.