Relationships between Hemoglobin and Each Component of Metabolic Syndrome: A Special Focus on Elderly without Medication

SummaryBackgroundThe relationships between higher hemoglobin (Hb) and the risk of higher metabolic syndrome (MetS) are important. However, most studies did not exclude individuals who were taking medications for MetS components, which would obviously lead to underestimations. At the same time, geriatric medicine is an important issue in our society. The aim of the present study is to determine the relationships between Hb and MetS components in the elderly, after excluding those individuals who were on medication for MetS.MethodsIndividuals aged older than 65 years were randomly selected from a health center between 1999 and 2008. After excluding those with medications for hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and/or diabetes, 3252 individuals were eventually included in the analysis.ResultsThe levels of Hb increased with the increasing percentage of MetS. In multivariate analysis, both fasting plasma glucose and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol fail to show significance in both sexes. In addition, in men systolic blood pressure (BP) is not correlated with Hb. The odds ratio is 1.915 in men and 2.088 in women when the highest Hb group is compared with the lowest Hb group (p < 0.001 in both sexes).ConclusionHigher Hb was associated with increased chances of having MetS in elderly adults. The most important contributors are waist circumference, BP, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol for both men and women.