Metabolic syndrome and its components are associated with frailty: A nationwide population-based study in Taiwan

Background/Purpose: The study aimed to explore association between frailty and metabolic syndrome and its components across different groups. Methods: The cross-sectional study comprised of 1,006 communityliving middle and old-age Taiwanese. Metabolic syndrome defined by using National Cholesterol Education Programme Adult Treatment Panel III guidelines. A frailty index of 35 items derived basing on the standard principles of frailty index development. As opposed to the usual method, frailty index (FI) ≤0.08 denoted non-frail; FI ≥0.25 indicated frail; the rest were pre-frail. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was employed to investigate associations between frailty and metabolic syndrome. Results: Of all, 130 individuals (12.9%) were frail and 366 subjects (36.4%), who met criteria of metabolic syndrome, were older and higher BMI, but similar in education years and proportion of smoking and drinking. Both prevalence of frailty (p for trend <0.001) and metabolic syndrome (p for trend 0.005) increased along with aging. Median of FI and percentage of frailty increased along with accumulating counts of metabolic risk factors (p <0.001 for both). Those with metabolic syndrome were strongly associated with frailty status and presenting a dose-dependent effect than their counterparts (OR: 2.4, 95% CI: 1.5-3.8 for prefrail; OR: 3.2, 95%CI: 1.7-6.0 for frail). These associations were stronger in female than male and in older than younger adults. Conclusion: The study demonstrated associations between frailty and metabolic syndrome and its individual components except low HDL-C, especially in females and older adults.