This study by Alexander et al. explored the influence of age and body mass index (BMI) on the revised National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III clinical criteria for the metabolic syndrome, its components, diabetes, and coronary heart disease (CHD) prevalence using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), a stratified probability sample of the civilian, non-institutionalized US population. Analysis conducted on 7,959 adults aged 20 and older revealed a complex interaction between age and obesity (defined by BMI) for each component of the metabolic syndrome and associated factors. Some components had stronger ties to BMI than age, such as fasting insulin and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. Others were associated with both age and obesity, such as fasting glucose levels. Diastolic blood pressure and HDL cholesterol were not correlated with either age or BMI in both men and women. This data shows that even in the presence of a significant association, the specific relationship of age, BMI, and metabolic risk factors appeared to be more linear with variables such as fasting glucose, diabetes, and systolic blood pressure and less linear in the case of triglyceride levels, which follow a different pattern.
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