Relationship between Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D Concentration and the Risks of Metabolic Syndrome in Premenopausal and Postmenopausal Women

ABSTRACT

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) has become a global epidemic. In particular, it is known that there is a dramatic increase in the prevalence of MetS among women during the postmenopausal period. Recently, accumulating studies have suggested that vitamin D deficiency may be inversely associated with the risk factors regarding MetS. However, evidence from postmenopausal women is limited. In this study, we examined the association between the serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and the MetS in Korean adult women aged 20-69 years (n = 2,618) by using the 2007-2008 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data. The geometric mean of plasma 25(OH)D were 17.16 +/- 6.28 ng/mL and 20.20 +/- 7.69 ng/mL for premenopausal and postmenopausal women, respectively. The percentages of vitamin D deficiency [25(OH)D < 12 ng/mL] were 22.5% and 14.4%, respectively. MetS was more prevalent in postmenopausal women (43.0%) compared with premenopausal women (11.2%). When serum concentrations of 25(OH)D were categorized in quintiles, there was no relationship in the prevalence of MetS in both premonopausal and postmenopausal women. However, in premenopausal women, compared with the lowest 25(OH)D quintile, the odds ratio for hypertriglyceridemia in the highest quintile was 0.57 (95% CI 0.34-0.95, Ptrend = 0.041) and for low serum HDL cholesterol 0.60 (95% CI 0.42-0.85, Ptrend = 0.014) after adjusting for all potential confounders. On the other hand, we observed the tendency of an inverse relationship for 25(OH)D regarding low serum HDL cholesterol (OR 0.78, 95% CI 0.50-1.22, Ptrend = 0.029) and a direct relationship with abdominal obesity (OR 1.94, 95% CI 1.01, 3.74, Ptrend = 0.049) in postmenopausal women. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings in other research settings.