Elderly women with metabolic syndrome present higher cardiovascular risk and lower relative muscle strength.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To compare the metabolic, anthropometric, arterial blood pressure, and muscle strength parameters of elderly women with and without metabolic syndrome. METHODS: A case-control study with 27 (67.3 ± 4.8 years of age, 31.0 ± 5.0 kg/m²) elderly women with metabolic syndrome and 33 (68.8 ± 5.6 years of age, 27.2 ± 5.3 kg/m²) sedentary control elderly women. They were submitted to an evaluation of body composition by means of dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and muscle strength testing with 10 maximal repetitions of knee extension. RESULTS: When compared to the elderly women without metabolic syndrome, those with the metabolic syndrome had higher levels for body mass (72.2 ± 13.5 versus 63.4 ± 14.6 kg, p = 0.03), body mass index (31.0 ± 5.0 versus 27.2 ± 5.3 kg/m2, p = 0.007), fat mass (30.9 ± 9.9 versus 24.4 ± 8.5 kg, p = 0.01), systolic arterial pressure (125.1 ± 8.2 versus 119.3 ± 8.7 mmHg, p = 0.01), diastolic arterial pressure (75.5 ± 6.9 versus 71.4 ± 6.7 mmHg, p = 0.03), mean arterial pressure (92.5 ± 6.2 versus 87.1 ± 6.7 mmHg, p = 0.004), blood glucose (103.8 ± 19.1 versus 91.1 ± 5.9 mg/dL, p = 0.001), triglycerides (187.1 ± 70.2 versus 116.3 ± 36.7 mg/dL, p = 0.001), and creatine kinase (122.6 ± 58.6 versus 89.8 ± 32.5 U/L, p = 0.01); lower levels were found for fat-free mass (55.9 ± 5.8 versus 59.3 ± 6.7%; p = 0.05), HDL-C (40.7 ± 5.0 versus 50.5 ± 10.1 mg/dL, p = 0.001), and relative muscle strength (0.53 ± 0.14 versus 0.62 ± 0.12, p = 0.01). CONCLUSION: Elderly women with metabolic syndrome have a higher cardiovascular risk and less relative muscle strength when compared to those without metabolic syndrome. Relative muscle strength may be related to the cardiovascularr risk factors of the metabolic syndrome.