1 in 3 Americans Estimated to Develop Diabetes, Metabolism Study Reveals

Nearly a third of Americans have a life-threatening syndrome that puts at them at increased risk of early death.

Metabolic syndrome is defined as having three or more risk factors including hypertension, high levels of bad cholesterol and low levels of good cholesterol, diabetes and obesity. While earlier studies had shown increasing number of adults having the syndrome, the numbers have leveled off in recent years.

The findings were made based on a data produced by a sample study of the US population for 2003 to 2012. The study found that the prevalence of metabolic syndrome increased from 32.9 percent to 34.7 percent for the entire population.

However decreases were noted between 2007 and 2012.

"When evaluating trends from 2007-2008 to 2011-2012, overall prevalence of the metabolic syndrome remained stable, as did prevalence trends among men and all race/ethnic groups, whereas prevalence among women decreased from 39.4 percent in 2007-2008 to 36.6 percent in 2011-2012," researchers said in a press release.

"Furthermore, recent data demonstrate that obesity prevalence in the United States also appears to have stabilized, which also may contribute to the stabilizing prevalence of the metabolic syndrome," they suggest.

The study published in the Journal of American Medical Association, also found that prevalence of metabolic disorder increased with age, with higher prevalence noted among women and Hispanics in the above-60 age group.