Metabolic syndrome among patients with cardiovascular disease in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Introduction

Metabolic syndrome, a frequent precursor to many cardiovascular illnesses, is prevalent in Africa. Currently, research on the prevalence of metabolic syndrome among cardiovascular disease patients is limited to diabetic, HIV/AIDS, and psychiatric populations. As a result, there is a lack of systematic evidence on the prevalence of metabolic syndrome among individuals with cardiovascular disease in African countries, and there is no realistic picture of the continent’s prevalence of metabolic syndrome among individuals with cardiovascular disease. This systematic review aimed to estimate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome among individuals with cardiovascular disease.

Methods

This systematic review and meta-analysis is reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement guidelines. Systematic electronic searches using databases such as African Journal Online, Google Scholar, PubMed, and the Wiley Online Library were performed from March 15 to April 20, 2024, to retrieve all relevant primary articles reporting the prevalence of metabolic syndrome among patients with cardiovascular disease in Africa. The extracted data were entered into Microsoft Excel and analyzed using STATA version 11 (STATA Corp., LLC) to estimate the pooled prevalence. Heterogeneity was tested using the Q statistic, and the I² test was used to identify possible inter-study variations.

Results

The initial search identified 1804 articles, which were cataloged in citation management software (EndNote X 7). The current meta-analysis showed that the overall prevalence of metabolic syndrome among patients with cardiovascular disease was 38.96% (95% CI: 30.51–47.42, I² = 73.2%) according to the NCEP-ATP III criteria. The analysis revealed moderate heterogeneity between the included articles. As a result, a random effect model, specifically the Der-Simonian and Laird (D+L) random model, was used to estimate the pooled prevalence of metabolic syndrome among patients with cardiovascular disease.

Conclusion

The prevalence of metabolic syndrome is increasing at an alarming rate and is high in Africa. Therefore, policymakers, clinicians, and concerned stakeholders should develop effective strategies for the control, prevention, and management of metabolic syndrome.