Association between Metabolic Syndrome and Cardiovascular Diseases: Results of Tabari Cohort Study

Metabolic syndrome is characterized by a cluster of symptoms including insulin resistance, blood pressure, abdominal obesity, defects in glucose metabolism, and dyslipidemia. Considering the increasing prevalence of cardiovascular diseases and metabolic syndrome, the aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between metabolic syndrome and its criteria with cardiovascular diseases.

The present study was a case-control study that utilized the results of the enrollment phase of the Tabari cohort study. The case group (304 individuals) was randomly selected from participants with cardiovascular diseases (564 individuals). The control group (304 individuals) was randomly selected from among other participants who were matched by age and sex. The comparison of variables between the two groups was done using the chi-square test. Logistic regression test was used to adjust the effect of confounding variables.

Patients with metabolic syndrome were 69.1% (210) in the case group and 55.6% (169) in the control group (P=0.001). The results of the univariate regression test showed that the chance of developing metabolic syndrome in people with cardiovascular diseases was 1.755 times more than people without cardiovascular diseases (95% CI: 1.280-2.418, and P=0.01). Among the diagnostic criteria of metabolic syndrome, the chances of high blood pressure, high triglyceride levels, and decreased HDL were significantly higher in the case group compared to the control group.

The risk of metabolic syndrome is significantly higher in people with cardiovascular diseases compared to the ones without cardiovascular diseases. After adjusting for confounding factors, we found a significant difference between triglyceride level and blood pressure in the two groups.