Association between drinking behaviors and components of metabolic syndrome in subjects in their 20s and 30s: data obtained from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2016–2018)

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Numerous studies have examined the relationship between drinking behaviors and metabolic syndrome (MetS) for adults, but these include very few studies for young adults. This study therefore undertook to investigate the association between drinking behaviors and components of MetS among adult drinkers aged 20–30 years. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Using the 2016–2018 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data, drinking behaviors of adults in the age group 20–30 years were divided into 4 groups: 1) group A, good drinking habits; 2) group B, frequent binge drinking but not frequent drinking; 3) group C, frequent drinking but not frequent binge drinking; 4) group D, frequent drinking and binge drinking. The association between MetS components and drinking behaviors was analyzed by applying multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: We determined the prevalence risk compared to group A. In men, the prevalence risk of high triglyceride (TG) increased 2.051-fold in group C and 1.965-fold in group D. Moreover, in group D, the prevalence risk of low high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) increased 0.668-fold, high blood pressure (BP) increased 2.147-fold, and MetS increased 1.567-fold. In women, there was an increased prevalence risk of low HDL-C (0.353-fold) and MetS (3.438-fold) in group C, whereas group D showed increased prevalence risk of abdominal obesity (2.959-fold), high TG (1.824-fold, and low HDL-C (0.424-fold). CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicates that frequent drinking increases the risk of high TG, whereas frequent and binge drinking increases the risk of high TG, low HDL-C, high BP, and prevalence of MetS in men. In women, frequent drinking without binge drinking increases the risk of low HDL-C and MetS, whereas frequent and binge drinking increases the risk of abdominal obesity, high TG, and low HDL-C. We propose that improvements in the drinking behaviors can reduce the prevalence of MetS.