The prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) increased dramatically over the past years among adults in a separate province in China; little is known about newly diagnosed MetS in middle-aged and above residents nationwide. We investigated the prevalence of MetS and its components, the dietary patterns, and their relationship among the middle-aged and above population of China by using data from a national cross-sectional survey. General information involving lifestyles and health stations was collected, and dietary intake using a 3-day 24 h dietary recall and weighing method for edible oil and condiments was conducted. Height, weight, waist circumference, and blood pressure were measured, and fasting serum lipids and glucose were tested by trained clinical staff. Dietary patterns were derived from 23 food categories by using cluster analysis, and a multivariate logistic regression model was used to evaluate the odd ratio of MetS and its component across obtained dietary patterns. The estimated prevalence of MetS was 37.1% among 40,909 middle-aged and older participants in the study. Participants were classified into diversity pattern, northern pattern, and southern pattern that, respectively, accounted for 9.8%, 47.2%, and 43.0% of the total. Compared with those inclined to the northern pattern, participants prone to the southern pattern decreased the risk of MetS (OR = 0.81, 95%CI: 0.75- 0.87; p < 0.001), central obesity (OR = 0.70, 95%CI: 0.65−0.76; p < 0.001), and HDL-C (OR = 0.82, 95%CI: 0.76−0.89; p < 0.001), and elevated BP (OR = 0.86, 95%CI: 0.79−0.93; p < 0.001) respectively. However, participants of the southern pattern tended to have a higher risk of elevated glucose; the OR (95%CI) was 1.13 (1.05, 1.22; p = 0.002) after adjusting for potential confounding factors. Greater adherence to diverse dietary patterns was negatively related to the risk of central obesity and elevated blood pressure with an OR (95%CI) of 0.82 (0.71, 0.94; p = 0.005) and 0.77 (0.67, 0.88; p < 0.001), respectively. We concluded that dietary improvement and health promotion for MetS should be based on the district-specific nutritional status of the Chinese middle-aged and elderly population.
Keywords: China; cross-sectional study; dietary pattern; metabolic syndrome.