Socioeconomic Inequalities in Metabolic Syndrome by Age and Gender in a Spanish Working Population.

Manuela Abbate,Antoni Aguilo,José M Morales-Asencio,Joan De Pedro-Gómez,Miquel Bennasar-Veny,Jordi Pericas,Aina M Yañez,Angel A López-González

doi:10.3390/ijerph181910333

Abstract

Lower socio-economic status (SES) is significantly associated with metabolic syndrome (MS) prevalence, possibly affecting women more than men, although evidence in Spain is still limited. The present cross-sectional study analyzed the association between MS and SES by age and gender among 42,146 working adults living in the Balearic Islands (Spain). Prevalence was higher in men (9.4% by ATP-III; 12.3% by IDF) than women (3.8% by ATP-III; 5.7% by IDF) and in the lower social class (7.9% by ATP-III; 10.7% by IDF) than the higher (4.1% by ATP-III; 5.9% by IDF). The SES gradient in MS prevalence was larger in women (PR 95% CI: 3.38, 2.50–4.58 by ATP-III; 3.06, 2.43–3.86 by IDF) than in men (1.23, 1.06–1.41 by ATP-III; 1.15, 1.03–1.30 by IDF) and was already evident from early adulthood, reaching the highest ratio at the late stages of middle adulthood (4.34, 1.11–16.98). Among men, it was significant during the late stages of early adulthood only (1.80, 1.19–2.73). Lower SES influenced MS prevalence in both genders, however, women seemed more affected than men. From a public health perspective, SES could be strongly associated with the burden of MS; in an effort to reduce its prevalence, public health policies should focus on gender differences in socio-economic inequality and consider women with low socio-economic resources as a priority.

Highlights

Previous evidence suggests that socio-economic inequalities as well as demographic differences are associated with an unequal distribution of health and disease in high, middle, and low-income countries [1,2]
The distribution of the whole sample by social class was as follows: 5231 (12.4%) subjects belonged to class I, 10,523 (25.0%) to class II, and
Our results indicate that lower socio-economic status significantly influenced metabolic syndrome (MS)

Summary

Introduction

Previous evidence suggests that socio-economic inequalities as well as demographic differences are associated with an unequal distribution of health and disease in high-, middle-, and low-income countries [1,2]. The metabolic syndrome (MS), a cluster of metabolic risk factors related to cardiovascular (CV) disease and type 2 diabetes (T2D) [3], follows the same trend, as its prevalence shows an inverse association with socio-economic status (SES). MS prevalence was generally higher in men than women, only up to the age of 50 years, after which, such a trend was reversed. Postmenopausal women became, increasingly predisposed to developing MS and suffered from CV events more than men of the same age [14,15].

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