Article Text
Abstract
Background The metabolic syndrome (MetSyn) is known as a precursor condition for a spectrum of cardiometabolic complications including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The present analysis aimed to quantify the differences in serum levels of cardiometabolic and inflammatory markers across the number of MetSyn components among Canadian adults.
Methods Serum levels of apolipoprotein A1 and B (ApoA1, B), creatine, total cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratio (TC:HDL), C reactive protein (CRP), fibrinogen, glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) and homocysteine were extracted from 1920 adults from the Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS). The definition of MetSyn components was based on the National Cholesterol Education Program, Adult Treatment Panel III criteria. Generalised linear models adjusted for age, sex, physical activity, smoking and ethnicity were used to quantify the relationship between select markers and number of MetSyn components.
Results Among survey subjects, 11.4% had MetSyn with 59.6% having at least one component. We observed several significant relationships between markers with increasing numbers of MetSyn components. Mean levels of ApoB, creatine, (TC:HDL), CRP, fibrinogen, HbA1c increased significantly as the numbers of MetSyn components increased whereas levels of ApoA1 decreased (p<0.05).
Conclusions Our results suggest that increasing numbers of metabolic syndrome components are associated with an elevated level of both markers of chronic low-grade inflammation and intermediate disease. Our findings support previous work showing that persons with MetSyn are a clinically relevant population with underlying pathogenesis that could benefit from early treatment.