Abstract
BackgroundPrevious studies have revealed ethnic disparities in the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS); however, the literature regarding aging-related patterns of disparities in MetS and its components remains limited.MethodsThis cross-sectional study recruited 28,049 subjects, consisting of one Chinese race and three American races, 18–85 years of age, from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES, 1999–2018) of the United States, and the Guangdong Gut Microbiome Project (GGMP, 2018) of China. MetS was defined in accordance with the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III. A modified sliding-window-based algorithm was used to depict the trajectories of the prevalence of MetS with increased age. Logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate associations between MetS and its components.ResultsThe prevalence of MetS increased non-linearly with age, with growth speed reaching its maximum at approximately 40–50 years. Chinese subjects exhibited a lower prevalence of MetS than non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks, and Mexican Americans in all age groups. The two most prevalent components in Chinese subjects were reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (42.0%) and elevated blood pressure (49.5%), and elevated triglyceride levels (36.3–49.5%) and abdominal obesity (55.8–55.9%) in Americans. Before 40 years of age, the top two MetS-associated components were abdominal obesity and elevated triglyceride levels in all races, while after 40 years, the prominent associations between MetS and its components varied among the different races and age groups.ConclusionsAlthough racial disparities in the epidemic of MetS varied with increased age, abdominal obesity and elevated triglyceride levels were the top two MetS-associated components in all younger adults of different races.
Highlights
Metabolic syndrome (MetS), characterized by the cluster of obesity, elevated blood pressure (BP), dyslipidemia, and hyperglycemia, is a strong risk factor for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus
The present study aimed to evaluate how the prevalence of MetS changed with age among non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black, Mexican American, and Han Chinese subjects, and to investigate whether the associations between MetS and its components change with aging across the four races
All of the enrolled samples were required to have age, sex, and components of MetS, which consist of waist circumference (WC), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), systolic BP (SBP), diastolic BP (DBP), triglycerides (TG), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c)
Summary
Metabolic syndrome (MetS), characterized by the cluster of obesity, elevated blood pressure (BP), dyslipidemia, and hyperglycemia, is a strong risk factor for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus. The prevalence of MetS had reached approximately one-quarter of the global population according to an estimate in 2018; as such, the prevention of MetS has become a global initiative [1]. Insulin resistance and abdominal obesity have generally been regarded to be the key components of MetS that require primary control [1]. It remains challenging for experts to determine the underlying causes of MetS in populations comprising different ethnicities, as well as which risk factors should be controlled first in primary preventive measures against the development of MetS. Previous studies have revealed ethnic disparities in the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS); the literature regarding aging-related patterns of disparities in MetS and its components remains limited
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