The association between metabolic syndrome and presence of frailty: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Frailty represents a progressive deterioration in multi-system of the body and could increase vulnerability to stressors. Recently, several studies found that metabolic syndrome was significantly associated with frailty and emphasized its role in assessing and preventing frailty. However, these conclusions are controversial. We conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the association between metabolic syndrome and frailty. Methods Databases including Pubmed, Embase, Web of Science, CINAHL Complete, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform were searched for studies on the association between metabolic syndrome and frailty, from inception to 17th June 2022. Two researchers independently screened the literature, extracted the data and evaluated the quality. Stata/SE 15.0 software was used to perform the statistical analysis. Results Eleven studies were included in this review and eight studies were included in the meta-analysis, involving one prospective cohort studies and ten cross-sectional studies with 12,640 participants. The pooled results indicated that metabolic syndrome was significantly associated with frailty (OR = 1.82, 95% CI = 1.46-2.27) with a low heterogeneity (I-2 = 32.1%), and there were significant associations between MetS and weakness (OR = 1.35, 95% CI = 1.15-1.58, I-2 = 0.0%), slow gait speed (OR = 1.80, 95% CI = 1.51-2.14, I-2 = 93.4%), weight loss (OR = 1.77, 95% CI = 1.36-2.29, I-2 = 0.0%) and decreased physical activity (OR = 1.87, 95% CI = 1.49-2.35, I-2 = 39.7%). Conclusions The findings of this systematic review and meta-analysis suggested that metabolic syndrome could be significantly associated with the presence of frailly. Future studies need to further consider the effects of measurement tools, age and specific disease status in this association. Furthermore, the casual relationship between them is to be determined. Key summary pointsAim To evaluate the association between metabolic syndrome and the presence of frailty. Findings Metabolic syndrome was significantly associated with the presence of frailly, as well as weakness, slow gait speed, decreased physical activity and weight loss. Message People with metabolic syndrome are more likely to suffer from frailty, while this association could be modified by age and specific disease.