Metabolic syndrome in reproductive age: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS), as components of excess body weight, have reached global epidemic levels.

Objective: The study aimed to investigate the features of the MetS course in men and women of reproductive age.

Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted with 140 participants aged between 35 and 49 yr at City Polyclinics No. 1, 3, and 4, Aktobe, Kazakhstan from March 2016-2019. Participants were divided into 2 subgroups based on diagnosis of MetS. The case group (with MetS), and the control group (without MetS) (n = 70/each consisted of 40 women and 30 men). Anthropometric, instrumental, and laboratory methods were used to confirm the diagnosis of MetS and determine its features in both groups.

Results: The results showed an increase in the uric acid level in the blood to 431.00 $\pm$ 66.37 $\mu$ mol/L and 5.47 $\pm$ 0.90 mol/day in the urine. Dyslipidemia was also noted in the case group of individuals with high-density lipoprotein levels of 1.22 $\pm$ 0.27 mmol/L vs. 1.32 $\pm$ 0.47 mmol/L in the control group. The testosterone level was 16.4 $\pm$ 3.04 nmol/L in the case group and 20.3 $\pm$ 5.6 nmol/L in the control. The difference in testosterone level was found to be statistically significant (p $<$ 0.01).

Conclusion: The analysis of sex hormone levels did not reveal any stable trends that could be considered diagnostic. That may indicate a correlation with the reproductive age characteristics of the examined individuals (men and women): significant differences between hormone levels were fixed in the case and control groups.