Flow chart of study participants.

<p>Abbreviations: MS: metabolic syndrome; AO: abdominal obesity.</p

Prevalence of metabolic syndrome components combination in male and female participants with abdominal obesity.

<p>Abbreviations: BG: raised fasting plasma glucose, BP: raised blood pressure, TG: raised triglycerides, HDL: reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.</p

Kaplan-Meier curves of the cumulative incidence rates of metabolic syndrome for all participants in sample 2.

<p>Abbreviations: MS: metabolic syndrome.</p

Kaplan-Meier curve of effect of gender for participants in sample 2with ages below 50 years (A) and above 50 years (B) divided by gender.

<div><p>Abbreviations: MS: metabolic syndrome. </p> <p>Male as reference. The relative ratio (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated by cox regression after adjustment for ethnics, educational level, cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking, and physical activity.</p></div