title: Differential patterns of effects of age and sex on metabolic syndrome in Taiwan: implication for the inadequate internal consistency of the current criteria.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Current criteria of metabolic syndrome (MetS) give equal weight to each component and apply mostly the same cut-off values to all ages. The contribution of each component to MetS and the effects of age and sex on each component and MetS were explored.
  
  
  METHODS
  We carried out a survey on residents aged 40-74 years of the northern coastal area of Taiwan. The prevalent rates of MetS in 646 males and 961 females were 32.4% and 27.8%, respectively. Logistic regression analyses were used to assess the main and interactive effects of age and sex. The Cronbach's α coefficient was calculated as the indicator of internal consistency of MetS components.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were significant age trends for MetS components, except for low HDL-C in both sexes and high fasting triglyceride in males. Logistic regression analyses showed that the effects of age and sex on MetS and its component were all different. The age-sex-specific Cronbach's α coefficients for MetS ranged from 0.43 to 0.61. The age trends of the coefficients in males and females were opposite. The exclusion of some components from the MetS resulted in an increase of the coefficients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results indicate that the internal consistency of MetS was questionable. It seems that the currently defined MetS components of MetS did not formulate a single pathophysiological entity. Given equal weight to each component and used the same cut-off values for the subjects of all age groups in both sexes need to be reconsidered.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Mackay Medical College, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Tzu-Wei
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Healthcare Center, Mackay Memorial Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsin-Lung
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Mackay Memorial Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chung-Lieh
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Hung
authors.affiliation: Department of Leisure and Recreation Management, Chihlee Institute of Technology, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: I-Jung
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Mackay Medical College, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Shwun-De
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Mackay Medical College, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Shih-Wei
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Mackay Medical College, New Taipei City, Taiwan; Department of Cardiology, Mackay Memorial Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yih-Jer
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Mackay Medical College, New Taipei City, Taiwan; Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Mackay Medical College, New Taipei City, Taiwan. Electronic address: yannbo@mmc.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Li-Yu
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Mackay Medical College, New Taipei City, Taiwan; Department of Cardiology, Mackay Memorial Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hung-I
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Yeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Mackay Medical College, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yau-Huei
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Wei
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Age; Internal consistency; Metabolic syndrome; Population-based analysis; Sex; Surveys