Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is generally defined as a cluster of metabolically 
related cardiovascular risk factors which are often associated with the 
condition of insulin resistance, elevated blood pressure, and abdominal obesity. 
During the past decades, MetS has become a major public health issue worldwide 
in both adults and children. In this study, data from the China Health and 
Nutrition Surveys (CHNS) was used to assess the prevalence of MetS based on both 
the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III 
(NCEP-ATPIII) guidelines and the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) 
criteria, and to evaluate its possible correlates. A total of 831 children aged 
7-18 years were included in this study, and 28 children were classified as 
having MetS as defined by the modified NCEP-ATPIII definition, which yielded an 
overall prevalence of 3.37%. Elevated blood pressure was the most frequent MetS 
component. The results of logistic regression models revealed that increased 
body mass index (BMI), hyperuricemia, and insulin resistance (IR) were all 
associated with the presence of MetS. To conclude, our study revealed the 
prevalence of MetS in Chinese children at the national level. Further 
large-scale studies are still needed to identify better MetS criteria in the 
general paediatric population in China.