Dietary patterns and metabolic syndrome amongst adult residents: A cross-sectional study in a rapidly urbanized Southern Chinese city

We aimed to investigate and summarize dietary patterns and explore the association between dietary patterns and metabolic syndrome (MS) and its components among adult residents in a rapidly urbanized city. We employed a multi-stage random sampling method to select 1000 adult residents who underwent a comprehensive survey, including questionnaires, physical examinations, and laboratory tests. The diagnosis of metabolic syndrome was made when the participant met 3 or more of the 5 criteria outlined in the “2017 Chinese Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Type 2 diabetes.” Factor analysis and a nonconditioned logistic regression model were used. Nine hundred seventy-five participants with a mean (SD) age of 41.08 (11.06) were included. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 19.4% (n = 189). Significant differences were observed between the MS and non-MS groups in terms of patient characteristics in terms of sex ( P < .001), age ( P < .001), education ( P < .001), marital status ( P = .025), smoking ( P < .001), and alcohol consumption ( P = .044). Three dietary patterns were summarized: traditional, coastal, and meat. The coastal pattern was associated with a significantly lower prevalence of MS ( P < .001), elevated blood pressure ( P < .001), and high triglyceride levels ( P = .03). However, in the multivariate analysis, we found no significant associations between dietary patterns and MS or its components after adjusting the demographic characteristics and behaviors, even when the P -value was close to .05. In this study, we did not find an association between dietary patterns and MS and its components after adjusting covariates as much as possible in Pingshan, Shenzhen, a rapidly urbanized city, but underscore the potential health benefits of the coastal dietary pattern, which highlights the importance of conducting further research for a comprehensive understanding.