Metabolic syndrome associated with Higher asthma prevalence in elderly

Metabolic syndrome is significantly associated with asthma in people aged ≥65 years, according to a study recently published in the journal Scientific Reports. Among the MS components, abdominal obesity was found to be the most significantly related to asthma. It was observed that MS was significantly associated with asthma through insulin resistance(IR) and systemic inflammation.

Sangshin Park et al conducted a study to investigate the association between metabolic syndrome (MS) and asthma and the contribution of insulin resistance (IR) and systemic inflammation of this MS-asthma association in the elderly.

The study included participants who were 65 years or older. Participants who had at least three metabolic syndrome components among the following were diagnosed as having MS: (i) waist circumference ≥90 cm for men or ≥85 cm for women (ii) systolic blood pressure ≥130 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure ≥85 mmHg, or treatment; (iii) triglycerides ≥150 mg/dL or treatment; (iv) HDL-C <40 mg/dL for men, or <50 mg/dL for women, or treatment, (v) fasting glucose ≥100 mg/dL or treatment. IR and systemic inflammation were regarded as potential mediators linking MS and asthma because IR and systemic inflammation can be independent risk factors for asthma development per se in the context of MS condition.

The study found that participants with MS tended to be retired rural residents with lower level education and higher household income compared to those without MS due to lack of exercise and more smoking.

Key findings:

• Participants with MS had 34% greater prevalence of asthma


• Higher asthma prevalence was linked to the following MS components:
  
  
  
  • Greater waist circumference
  
  
  • Lower high-density lipoprotein cholesterol
  
  
  • IR (aOR)
  
  
  • Inflammation (aOR)
  
  
  
  


• The prevalence of asthma increased with an increasing number of MS components


• The association between asthma and MS was mediated by IR (39.8%) and inflammation (69.8%), according to mediation analysis.

The study concluded that elderly patients with metabolic syndrome (MS) have a higher prevalence of asthma compared with those without MS and the association between the two may be driven by insulin resistance (IR) and systemic inflammation.

Asthma has become a major health concern issue. It is estimated that approximately 300 million people worldwide currently have asthma and that the number will increase to 400 million by 2025. It has been recently highlighted that asthma is also common in elderly people of age 65 or older. The prevalence of asthma in the elderly has been reported as 4.5% to 12.7%, and approximately 50% of deaths from asthma occur in this age group.

For more reference log on to

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-26621-z#Sec3