Factors Affecting Metabolic Syndrome in Individuals With Chronic Spinal Cord Injury

OBJECTIVE: To assess the validity of different anthropometric measures (waist circumference [WC], body mass index [BMI], and percentage body fat) in diagnosing metabolic syndrome (MetS) among individuals with SCI and provides preliminary data for future studies in setting obesity cutoff values for this population. METHODS: This was a single-center retrospective cohort study. Sample information, anthropometric measures, and MetS variables of 157 individuals with chronic SCI were collected from an electronic medical records database. RESULTS: Increasing age (odds ratio [OR]=1.040, p=0.016) and lower neurological level of injury (OR=1.059, p=0.046) were risk factors for MetS. Male BMI (r=0.380, p<0.001) and male WC (r=0.346, p<0.001) were positively correlated with the number of MetS subfactors. Individuals with non-obese WC, excluding central obesity, were associated with having no MetS subfactors (p=0.005), and individuals with obese WC were associated with one or more subfactors (p=0.005). BMI was associated with MetS diagnosis (area under the curve=0.765, p<0.001), with the calculated cutoff value for BMI being 22.8 kg/m2. CONCLUSION: This study calls for a stricter BMI cutoff for individuals with SCI in diagnosing MetS and warrants a large population-based study to define central obesity according to sex and ethnicity.