Relationship between metabolic syndrome components and oxidative stress in elderly community-dwelling Mexicans.

Aim: To determine the relationship between metabolic syndrome (MetS) components and oxidative stress (OxS) in elderly community-dwelling Mexicans.

Methods: We carried out a comparative cross-sectional study on 113 elderly subjects (> or =60 years old); 50 of them did not have MetS and 63 did have MetS (based on Adult Treatment Panel III criteria). We measured total antioxidant status (TAS), plasma lipid peroxidation (LPO), antioxidant activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and calculated the SOD/GPx ratio. High blood pressure (HBP) was defined as systolic blood pressure (SBP) > or =140 mm Hg and/or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) > or =90 mm Hg.

Results: We found a statistically significant increase in the percentage of cases of severe OxS in elderly subjects with MetS in comparison to healthy elderly (17 vs. 8%, OR: 7.33, 95% CI: 1.38-42.39; p < 0.01). It was observed that subjects with 5 MetS components had a 10-fold higher risk of developing OxS than subjects with 1 component (OR: 11.00, 95% CI: 1.72-115.17; p < 0.01). A positive correlation between SBP and LPO (r = 0.202, p < 0.05), and a negative correlation of SBP and DBP with TAS activity (r = -0.232, p < 0.05; r = -0.211, p < 0.05) were also observed.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that MetS is linked to severe OxS, that the number of metabolic syndrome components is a significant risk factor in the development of OxS, and that HBP is the most important metabolic syndrome component linked to OxS in the elderly.