Table 1.

Criteria and the thresholds used for the definition of metabolically healthy obese individuals in each cohort study

	Strict criteria	Less strict criteria
Blood pressure	SBP ≥ 130 mmHg or DBP ≥ 85 mmHg or use of antihypertensive medication	SBP ≥ 140 mmHg or DBP ≥ 90 mmHg or use of antihypertensive medication
Elevated blood glucose	fasting blood glucose ≥ 6.1 mmol/l or non-fasting blood glucose ≥ 7.0 mmol/l or use of blood glucose lowering medication or diagnosis of type 2 diabetes	fasting blood glucose ≥ 7.0 mmol/l or non-fasting blood glucose ≥ 7.8 mmol/l or use of blood glucose lowering medication or diagnosis of type 2 diabetes
Decreased HDL-cholesterol	< 1.03 mmol/l in men or < 1.30 mmol/l in women or medical treatment for low HDL	< 1.03 mmol/l in men or < 1.30 mmol/l in women or medical treatment for low HDL
Elevated triglycerides*	≥ 1.70 mmol/l or medication for elevated triglycerides	≥ 1.70 mmol/l or medication for elevated triglycerides
Diagnosis for CVD	Yes	Yes

Abbreviations: CVD cardiovascular disease, DBP diastolic blood pressure, SBP systolic blood pressure.

The presence of ≥ 2 abnormal clinical measures (blood pressure, blood glucose, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides) according to the strict criteria was considered diagnostic for MetS.

Metabolically healthy obesity is defined as having BMI ≥ 30, none of the following criteria of the metabolic syndrome [15,42], and no cardiovascular disease.

*In case of non-fasting measurements, the cut-off value was set at 2.10 mmol/l.