Introduction:

The European initiative: Identification and prevention of Dietary- and lifestyle-induced health EFects In Children and infantS (IDEFICS) established criteria for the diagnosis of metabolic syndrome (MS) in children younger than 10 years of age.

Objective:

To describe the frequency of MS with the IDEFICS criteria in children aged 3 to 10 years with obesity (body mass index ≥ 95th percentile).

Material and methods:

Descriptive, observational, and retrospective study, carried out between 2017 and 2018 in the Servicio de Pediatría del Hospital General León, Guanajuato, México.

Results:

A total of 73 patients were included, of which 53 (72.6%) met three or more IDEFICS criteria, thus being identified with MS. Of the 53 patients, 14 had a monitoring level and 39 had an intervention level. Dyslipidemia and insulin resistance were the most common MS components.

Conclusions:

The IDEFICS criteria are useful for identifying children younger than 10 years who have one or more SM components.