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The detection of metabolic syndrome (MS) is use ful for identifying individuals at risk for type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease. The objectives of the study were to describe the prevalence of MS in employees 40-65 years old, utilizing different definitions and to analyze the relation with educational level and gender by means of cross-sectional and multicenter study of different regions of Argentina. Compared MS definitions were: International Diabetes Federation, American Heart Association/National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and National Cholesterol Education Program - Adults Treatment Panel III. Fulfilled the protocol 2806 cases. It was observed a prevalence of 0.31, 0.30 and 0.26 respectively, more frequent in men (p = 0.0000). There was no significant difference between sexes in the group 60 to 65 years old. After adjusting to age, sex, physical activity, family history of diabetes and menopause, the women with low educational level (<12 years) had more risk than men, OR = 1.95 (CI 95% 1.49-2.55) p = 0.000 compared with OR = 1.36 (CI 95% 1.10-1.69) p = 0.005, respectively. The low educational level in women, adjusted for confounders, was a predictor of four components of MS: central obesity, low C-HDL, glucose > or =100 mg/dl and hypertriglyceridemia; in men was only a hard predictor of hypertriglyceridemia. The results alert about the need of education of the population for the control of risk factors and adoption of healthy habits.