Objective:To investigate the prevalence rate of metabolic syndrome（MS）of 54 634 medical examination cohort in Chongqing

and to evaluate predictive value of waist-to-height ratio WHt R in the diagnosis of metabolic syndrome. Methods:The diagnosis of MS was made based on the criteria recommended by the Chinese Diabetes Society. The prevalence rate of MS was described by dividing the subjects into different groups. The predictive value of the anthropometry indices for the diagnosis of MS was evaluated by the receiver operating characteristic（ROC）curves. Results:Totally 6 730 out of the 54 634 subjects were diagnosed as MS. The prevalence rate was 12.32%. The prevalence rate of MS was higher in males than in females（P=0.000）. The prevalence rate of MS increased with age（P=0.000）. The predictive value of WHt R in the diagnosis of MS was assessed in the ROC curves. The area under the curve of whole population was 0.857（95%CI=0.853 to 0.861）. The area under the curve of the males and the females were separately 0.827（95%CI=0.821 to 0.832）and 0.892（95%CI=0.886 to 0.899）. The area under the curve of the groups of under 45 years

45-64 years and above 65 years were separately 0.886（95% CI =0.880 to 0.892）

0.812（95% CI =0.805 to 0.820） and（95% CI =0.785 to0.810）. WHt R in each group had nearly the same optimal cutoff value of 0.51（sensitivity and specificity were respectively: the whole group:85.1% and 72.4%

the male group:82.5% and 68.9%

the female group:85.0% and 79.3%

under 44 years group:87.8% and76.6%

45-64 years group:77. 6 % and 71. 6 %

above 65 years group :77. 5 % and 69.3%）. Conclusion:WHt R has a high value in predicting the diagnosis of MS

with the optimal cutoff value of 0.51.