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. 2025 Aug 14;20(8):e0328577.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0328577. eCollection 2025.

Omnipresent intercorrelations of metabolic syndrome markers in the general population

Marina Sanchez Rico  1 , Emmanuel Wiernik  2 , Sofiane Kab  2 , Adeline Renuy  2 , Nicolas Hoertel  1   3   4 , Joël Ménard  3 , Marcel Goldberg  2 , Marie Zins  2   3 , Pierre Meneton  5
Affiliations

Omnipresent intercorrelations of metabolic syndrome markers in the general population

Marina Sanchez Rico et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Besides the usual characterization of metabolic syndrome as a cluster of markers arbitrarily defined by thresholds, it is unclear to which extent these markers as continuous traits are correlated with each other in the general population. The present study aimed to explore these correlations across a wide array of biological, social and behavioral characteristics.

Methods: The cross-sectional analyses were performed in a large population-based French cohort (CONSTANCES) of 159,476 adults in whom blood glucose, low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and high-density lipoproteins (HDL), triglycerides, body mass index, waist and hip circumferences, systolic and diastolic blood pressures were measured at the time of recruitment between 2012 and 2021. Correlations between each pair of continuous marker distributions were assessed by calculating raw and partial correlation coefficients (r).

Results: The same pattern of partial correlations is observed with little variation in all groups of sex, age, individual and parental histories of cardiovascular disease, diagnosis of metabolic syndrome, social position, work environment, lifetime unemployment exposure, smoking, non-moderate alcohol consumption, leisure-time physical inactivity and diet quality. This pattern is composed of strong and expected intercorrelations between systolic and diastolic blood pressures (r ranging from 0.62 to 0.74), between body mass index and waist (r from 0.50 to 0.63) and hip (r from 0.58 to 0.70) circumferences and between waist and hip circumferences (r from 0.07 to 0.19). It also includes intercorrelations of systolic blood pressure with waist (r from 0.10 to 0.21) and hip (r from -0.07 to -0.12) circumferences and with blood glucose (r from 0.09 to 0.15), those of triglycerides with blood glucose (r from 0.07 to 0.16), LDL (r from 0.24 to 0.33), HDL (r from -0.20 to -0.29) and waist circumference (r from 0.07 to 0.15), and finally those of waist and hip circumferences with blood glucose (r from 0.09 to 0.17 and from -0.08 to -0.13) and HDL (r from -0.12 to -0.24 and from 0.08 to 0.18).

Conclusions: These results show that metabolic syndrome markers are correlated with each other whatever the biological, social or behavioral characteristics of individuals. They suggest that it makes sense to systematically consider these markers all together rather than separately in terms of etiology, prevention and treatment of metabolic diseases and cardiovascular risk in the general population.

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Conflict of interest statement

The Constances Cohort Study was supported and funded by the French National Health Insurance (Caisse nationale d'assurance maladie, CNAM). Constances is an Infrastructure nationale en biologie et santé and is partly funded by Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) and L'Oreal. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products associated with this research to declare. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Study flow chart.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Distributions of metabolic syndrome markers in participants.
The mean with standard deviation (SD) and median as well as minimum and maximum values are reported for each marker.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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