A proposed scoring system for quantification of metabolic syndrome severity

Abstract

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and mortality. Currently, there is no established tool to quantify severity of MetS. Furthermore, it is unclear which trait(s) contribute the most to MetS presence. PURPOSE: The aims of the current study were to establish a scoring system for assessing presence and severity (number of traits) of MetS and to determine the most influential contributor to the incidence of MetS. METHODS: Overweight and sedentary adults (N=208) were obtained from previous exercise intervention studies. Measurement were obtained for the following traits: waist circumference (WC), fasting glucose (FG), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), systolic blood pressure (SBP), triglycerides (TG), body mass index (BMI), C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor [alpha] (TNF[alpha]), percent body fat (% fat) and aerobic capacity (VO[subscript 2]max). Two MetS scoring systems were formulated: one including all five current NCEP ATP III MetS criteria (5score) and one including all 10 variables (10score). RESULTS: Both 5score (r[superscript 2]=0.74) and 10score (r[superscript 2]=0.23) were significant predictors of MetS severity (both p [less than] 0.0001). Traits contributed to MetS in the following order: for women, HDL-C [greater than] [greater than] FG [greater than] TG [greater than] SBP [greater than] WC, for men, TG [greater than] FG [greater than] WC [greater than] SBP [greater than] HDL-C, and combined TG [greater than] FG [greater than] HDL-C [greater than] SBP [greater than] WC. CONCLUSIONS: 5score and 10score are significant predictors of MetS presence and severity. MetS traits behave differently between genders. HDL-C is the most influential contributor to incident MetS in women, whereas TG is the most influential factor in men and combined genders.