Objective To evaluate the relationship between metabolic syndrome, its components and the histopathological findings in bladder cancer patients. Methods The data of 326 patients in our department between October 2010 and October 2013 were retrospectively analyzed. Age, gender, stature, weight, histologic stage, grade, and the presence of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, body mass index (BMI) were evaluated. There were 64 females, 262 males, aged 23-89 years, including 241 low stage, 85 high stage, 155 low grade, and 171 high grade, respectively. There were 117 cases with hypertension, 95 cases with diabetes mellitus, 139 cases with BMI ≥25 kg/m2 and 49 cases with metabolic syndrome. The TNM classification was used, with Ta and T1 tumor accepted as low stage, T2, T3 and T4 tumor as high stage bladder cancer. In addition, the pathological grading system adopted by the 2004 World Health Organization was applied. Non-invasive papillary urothelial neoplasms of low malignant potential were regarded as low grade. Analyses were completed using Chi-square tests to evaluate the correlation of diabetes mellitus, hypertension and obesity with the pathologic stage and grade. Moreover, the pathologic stage, grade and recurrence were compared between metabolic syndrome and non-metabolic syndrome groups. Results Metabolic syndrome was significantly associated with histological grade and stage (P=0.001, P=0.011). Diabetes mellitus and obesity were also associated with histological grade and stage (P=0.006, P<0.01). Conclusions Patients with metabolic syndrome were found to have significant higher T stage and grade of bladder cancer. Diabetes mellitus and obesity may promote the grading and staging of bladder cancer. Key words: Urinary bladder neoplasms; Metabolic syndrome; Diabetes mellitus; Obesity; Histological grade and stage