Depressive Symptoms and Stressful Life Events Predict Metabolic Syndrome Among Middle-Aged Women

OBJECTIVE: We evaluated whether psychosocial factors that are related to cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes predict prospectively the risk for the metabolic syndrome using the different clinical criteria available for defining the syndrome. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Women were enrolled in a population-based prospective cohort study called the Healthy Women Study and were followed for an average of 15 years after baseline. Metabolic syndrome was defined via the World Health Organization, the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III, and the International Diabetes Foundation clinical criteria. RESULTS: Among women who did not have the metabolic syndrome at the baseline, the risk for the metabolic syndrome defined in multiple ways varied from 1.21- to 2.12-fold (95% CI 1.00-4.25, P < 0.05) for more severe depressive symptoms or very stressful life event(s). These associations were largely the same, regardless of the clinical criteria used to define the metabolic syndrome. Those who at the baseline reported feeling frequently and intensely angry, tense, or stressed also had an increased risk for developing the metabolic syndrome at least by one definition (relative risk 1.19-1.66 1.00-2.39). CONCLUSIONS: These are the first data to demonstrate that psychosocial factors predict the risk for developing the metabolic syndrome by multiple definitions. Psychosocial factors may play a causal role in the chain of events leading to the metabolic syndrome.