The risk of metabolic syndrome is associated with vitamin D and inflammatory status in premenopausal and postmenopausal Algerian women.

Background: This first cross-sectional study examined whether vitamin D status and proinflammatory cytokines may be associated with metabolic syndrome (MetS) in Algerian women regarding their menopausal status.
Methods: Fasting plasma glucose (FPG), lipids, insulin, 25(OH)D, PTH, adiponectin, resistin, TNFα, and IL-6 levels were assessed in 277 participants aged 18-74 years. MetS was diagnosed according to NCEP-ATPIII criteria. The association of vitamin D deficiency, IL-6, and TNFα with components of MetS was analyzed by the logistic regression.
Results: Among a cohort of 277 participants, the prevalence of MetS in 115 premenopausal vs. 162 postmenopausal women was 54.02 vs. 68.1%. Cut-offs for vitamin D deficiency were 15.7 vs. 13 ng/mL, 51.07 vs. 41 pg/mL for IL-6 and 8.28 vs. 9.33 pg/mL for TNFα, respectively. 25(OH)D levels were positively correlated with adiponectin levels, while negatively with HOMA-IR in postmenopausal-MS + women. Adjustment for age and BMI reveals a significant association between vitamin deficiency and high FPG (OR: 2.92 vs. 2.90), TG (OR:2.79 vs. 3.51), BP (OR:2.20 vs. 1.92), and low HDL-c (OR:2.26 vs. 3.42), respectively. A significant association was also detected in postmenopausal women between IL-6 and high FPG (OR5.11, p = 0.03), BP (OR:3.13, p = 0.04), and low HDL-c (OR5.01, p = 0.02), while TNFα was associated with high BP in postmenopausal women (OR: 3.70, p = 0.01), and inversely with TG in premenopausal women (OR: 0.16, p = 0.04).
Conclusion: This study highlighted that severe vitamin D deficiency increases MetS score and was closely associated with four components of MetS, more potently in postmenopausal women, probably related with estrogens. Abdominal obesity, as influential component of MetS, may be involved in enhancing vitamin D deficiency, and dysregulating some metabolic hormones such as adiponectin, resistin and insulin, that contributes in onset an inflammatory state, through the increase in IL-6 and TNFα levels. These findings need to be improved by expanding investigation to a large cohort of participants.
(© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland.)