Association between Cognitive function and metabolic syndrome using Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test

Background and The increased risk for cognitive defects in individuals affected by metabolic syndrome especially in those patients with cardiovascular disorders is now claimed. We aimed to assess the relationship between cognitive performance and the various components of metabolic syndrome. One hundred and eighteen consecutive individuals aged 30 to 86 years were included into this cross-sectional survey. The metabolic syndrome and its definitive components were defined according to the definition described in the Framingham Heart Study by NCEP ATP III criteria. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA) questionnaire was employed to cognitive screening. Those patients with metabolic syndrome had significantly lower mean MOCA score compare to the group without metabolic syndrome (19.11 ± 5.49 versus 21.28 ± 4.56, p = 0.021). Among all cognition sub domains, the mean attention score was significantly lower in the group with metabolic syndrome than in another group. In a multivariate linear regression model adjusting sex and age variables showed that the presence of metabolic syndrome could effectively predict cognitive impairment (beta = -2.202, SE = -0.214, p = 0.013). The presence of metabolic syndrome can be mainly related to damaging cognition especially impairing the power of attention.