title: The association of metabolic syndrome and aging with cognition in Asian men.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The present cross-sectional study examined the associations of individual metabolic factors and age with the short-term memory and perceptual capacity in 472 healthy Asian men.
  
  
  METHODS
  The symbol digit and digit span tests from the Swedish Performance Evaluation System were used to assess the perceptual capacity and memory cognitive domains. Linear regression with the stepwise method, and multivariate analyses of the General Linear Model with the Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons were carried out with the SPSS 21.0 package.
  
  
  RESULTS
  High blood pressure and HDL were not significantly associated with either short-term memory or perceptual capacity. Age and glucose level were negatively associated but regular physical exercise was positively associated with perceptual capacity. On the other hand, high triglyceride level (TG) was positively associated but high waist/height ratio was negatively associated with short-term memory. When men without any component of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) were compared with men with one, two or three or more components of MetS, no significant differences in cognitive performance were noted.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Not all the metabolic factors were significantly associated with short-term memory or the perceptual capacity domains. Those that were did not show a sufficiently consistent pattern of association to support a role for MetS as a whole in cognitive decline with aging. It may not be meaningful to evaluate the association of MetS as a whole with cognition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Education, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University , Kent Street, Bentley, Western Australia , Australia.
authors.forename: Victor H H
authors.initials: VH
authors.lastname: Goh
authors.forename: William G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Hart
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D014280:Triglycerides
keywords: Aging; Asian men; metabolic syndrome; perceptual capacity; short-term memory