The Nexus of Metabolic Syndrome and Quality of Life Among Elderly: Unrevealing Keys to Healthy Aging

Abstract

Objective: To determine the correlation between metabolic syndrome and quality of life (QoL) among elderly with insights into healthy aging.

Methods: A Comparative Cross-sectional study was conducted at general wards of Civil Hospital Hyderabad, from March 2024 to August 2024 on elderly individuals aged 65 years and above, both gender with ability to comprehend and respond to study questionnaires.  All the individuals were assessed for metabolic syndrome, defined as the presence of at least three out of five components including elevated fasting blood glucose, raised blood pressure, elevated triglyceride, low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and increased waist circumference. The (QoL) was assessed using the World Health Organization WHOQOL-BREF quality of life tool. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 26.

Results: The mean age of the 370 elderly individuals in the study was 59.81 years, with a standard deviation of 7.92 years. Out of the 370 study participants, 58.1% (215 individuals) were male, and 41.9% (155 individuals) were female. A higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome found among elderly individuals around 73.0%. Overall 52.7% cases reported a good QoL, followed by average QoL 25.4% and poor QoL 21.9%. The metabolic syndrome was significantly more prevalent among elderly individuals with poor (76/81) and moderate (84/94) QoL compared with those with good, representing metabolic syndrome strongly linked to poor QoL (p=0.001).

Conclusion: The study revealed an important nexus between metabolic syndrome and QOL, representing that the metabolic syndrome is related to poor QOL among older adults, with increasing metabolic burden corresponding to a decline in QOL.