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Review
. 2022 Jul 26;7(4):76.
doi: 10.3390/geriatrics7040076.

The Relationship between Metabolic Syndrome and Frailty in Older People: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Hiep Huu Hoang Dao  1 , Mason Jenner Burns  1 , Richard Kha  1 , Clara K Chow  1   2 , Tu Ngoc Nguyen  1
Affiliations
Review

The Relationship between Metabolic Syndrome and Frailty in Older People: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Hiep Huu Hoang Dao et al. Geriatrics (Basel). .

Abstract

Aims: Both metabolic syndrome (MetS) and frailty are associated with increased all-cause mortality, yet the complex interplay between these two conditions has not adequately been elucidated. We aim to analyse the relationship between MetS and frailty through a systematic review of the literature with meta-analyses.

Methods: A literature search was conducted via MEDLINE and EMBASE. Studies were included if validated frameworks for defining frailty and MetS (presence of at least 3 out of the five constitutive components: abdominal obesity, high fasting blood glucose, hypertension, hypertriglyceridaemia, and low high-density lipoprotein level) were utilised, in addition to the inclusion of participants aged 60 or older.

Results: Eleven studies were included, all observational. All were in community-dwelling older people, 9 cross-sectional and 2 longitudinal. Most of the studies used Fried's frailty phenotype. The prevalence of frailty ranged from 0.9% to 14.8% in population-based studies and 35.6% in the outpatient clinic setting. The prevalence of MetS was also higher in the outpatient clinic setting at 47.5%, compared to 17.5-41.0% in the community-dwelling populations. The meta-analysis of 11 studies showed that MetS was associated with an increased risk of frailty (pooled OR 1.73, 95% CI, 1.41-2.13).

Conclusion: This systematic review and meta-analysis suggest that frailty was more prevalent in older people with MetS compared to older people without MetS. The study findings suggest the importance of frailty screening in older people with MetS and a distinct role of managing MetS in preventing frailty in older people.

Keywords: diabetes; dyslipidemia; frailty; hypertension; metabolic syndrome; obesity; older people.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure A1
Figure A1
Random effects model meta-analysis of frailty likelihood in people with and without metabolic syndrome in studies in Caucasian populations only [17,18,19,21,25,26,27].
Figure A2
Figure A2
Random effects model meta-analysis of frailty likelihood in people with and without metabolic syndrome in studies in Asian populations only [20,22,23,24].
Figure A3
Figure A3
Random effects model meta-analysis of frailty likelihood in people with and without metabolic syndrome in cross-sectional studies only [17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25].
Figure A4
Figure A4
Random effects model meta-analysis of frailty likelihood in people with and without metabolic syndrome in longitudinal studies only [26,27].
Figure A5
Figure A5
Random effects model meta-analysis of frailty likelihood in people with and without metabolic syndrome in studies rated as “good quality” [18,19,20,21,26,27].
Figure A6
Figure A6
Random effects model meta-analysis of frailty likelihood in people with and without metabolic syndrome in studies rated as “fair quality” [17,22,23,24,25].
Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart of literature search (PRISMA format) detailing the process that resulted in the final study inclusion.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Random effects model meta-analysis of frailty likelihood in people with and without metabolic syndrome in the 11 studies [17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27]. MetS, metabolic syndrome; Events, Frailty.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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