Factor Analysis of Metabolic Syndrome Components in a Population-Based Study in the South of Iran (PERSIAN Kharameh Cohort Study)

We aimed to estimate the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of metabolic syndrome components based on variables including gender, BMI, and age groups in a population-based study with large sample size.

This study was conducted on 10663 individuals 40-70 yr old in Phase 1 of the Persian Kharameh cohort study conducted in 2014-2017. EFA of the metabolic syndrome components, including waist circumference (WC), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and fasting blood sugar (FBS), was performed on all participants by gender, BMI (Body Mass Index), and age groups.

EFA results in the whole population based on eigenvalues ​​greater than one showed two factors explaining 56.06% of the total variance. Considering factor loadings higher than 0.3, the first factor included: DBP, SBP, and WC, named as hypertension factor. The second factor also included TG, negative-loaded HDL, FBS, and WC, named as lipid factor. Almost similar patterns were extracted based on subgroups. 

MetS is a multi-factorial syndrome. Both blood pressure and lipid had a central role in this study and obesity was an important factor in both ones. Hypertension, having the highest factor loading, can generally be a valuable screening parameter for cardiovascular and metabolic risk assessment.