Abstract
AIMS/INTRODUCTION: Previous research showed the association between health-related quality of life and metabolic syndrome (MetS). The present study aimed to examine the impact of persistence of MetS on health-related quality of life in non-diabetic Iranian adults. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study. A representative sample of 643 non-diabetic individuals (67% female), aged ≥20 years, who participated in the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study in 2005-2007 were recruited for the study, and categorized into four groups, those without, with transient, with intermittent and with persistent MetS. Health-related quality of life was assessed using the Iranian version of the Short Form Health Survey. MetS was diagnosed using the Joint Interim Statement criteria. RESULTS: Women with transient, intermittent and persistent MetS scored lower on the Physical Component Summary than those without the syndrome (51.03 ± 1.41, 48.16 ± 1.46 and 46.58 ± 1.29 vs 52.18 ± 1.20) after adjusting for potential confounders (P = 0.04). In women, there was also a significant decreasing trend in the scores of bodily pain (P for trend = 0.006) and general health (P for trend = 0.005) across the study groups. Compared with women without MetS, the odds ratio of reporting poor health-related quality of life for women with intermittent MetS was 2.75 (95% confidence interval 1.19-6.37, P = 0.01). Among men, however, no significant difference was observed in any of the health-related quality of life domains. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with women without, with transient and with persistent MetS, those with intermittent MetS reported poorer physical health-related quality of life.