Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome and Association with Physical Activity and Frailty Status in Spanish Older Adults with Decreased Functional Capacity: A Cross-Sectional Study

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of medical conditions associated with several health disorders. MetS and frailty can be related to prolonged physical deconditioning. There is a need to know whether there is concordance between the different ways of diagnosing it and to know their prevalence in Spanish older adults. Thus, the aims of this study were to describe the prevalence of MetS; to analyse the concordance between different definitions to diagnose MetS; and to study the associations between MetS, frailty status, and physical activity (PA) in older adults with decreased functional capacity. This report is a cross-sectional study involving 110 Spanish older adults of ages ≥65 years with decreased functional capacity. Clinical criteria to diagnose MetS was defined by different expert groups. Anthropometric measurements, blood biochemical analysis, frailty status, functional capacity, and PA were assessed. The Kappa statistic was used to determine the agreement between the five MetS definitions used. Student’s t-test and the Pearson chi-square test were used to examine differences between sex, frailty, and PA groups. The sex-adjusted prevalence of MetS assessed by the National Cholesterol Education Program—Third Adult Treatment Panel was 39.4% in men and 32.5% in women. The International Diabetes Federation and the Harmonized definitions had the best agreement (k = 1.000). The highest odds ratios (ORs) of cardiometabolic risk factors to develop MetS were elevated triglycerides (37.5) and reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (27.3). Central obesity and hypertension prevalence were significantly higher in the non-active group (70.7% and 26.8%, respectively), compared to the active group (50.0% and 7.7%, respectively). Moreover, the active group (OR = 0.85, 95% CI = 0.35, 2.04) and active women group (OR = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.27, 2.20) appeared to show a lower risk of developing this syndrome. MetS is highly prevalent in this sample and changes according to the definition used. It seems that sex and frailty do not influence the development of MetS. However, PA appears to decrease central obesity, hypertension, and the risk of developing MetS.