The association of metabolic syndrome and cognitive impairment in Jidong of China: a cross-sectional study

Metabolic syndrome (Mets) is prevalent in the general population and has been reported to be an independent risk factor for cognitive impairment. This study aimed to investigate the association of Mets with the risk of cognitive impairment. We studied 5854 participants from the Jidong community. Cognitive function was assessed by the Mini-Mental State of Examination (MMSE) scale. Mets was diagnosed according to the International Diabetes Federation criteria. We used logistic regression analysis to investigate the association of metabolic syndrome with the risk of cognitive impairment. Among the 5854 adults included in the study, the age mean (SD) of age was 44 (13.57) years, and 2916 (50.34%) were male. There was a higher (56.03%) cognitive impairment incidence rate among participants with Mets than among those without Mets. In addition, there was a significant association between Mets and cognitive impairment (OR: 2.39, 95% CI: 2.00–2.86, P < 0.05) after adjusting for potential confounders, including age, gender, education level, marital status, smoking and alcohol consumption status. Regarding the 5 Mets components, abdominal obesity and elevated blood pressure were associated with the risk of Mets (OR: 1.36, 95% CI: 1.09–1.70, P < 0.001; OR: 1.32, 95% CI: 1.07–1.63, P < 0.05). Moreover, the strongest statistical correlation (adjusted OR: 1.86, 95% CI: 1.22–2.83, P < 0.05) was found when the number of Mets components was three. Our study suggested that Mets was associated with cognitive impairment and that abdominal obesity and hypertension were associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment.