Higher parity and risk of metabolic syndrome in Korean postmenopausal women: Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2010-2012

Aim: We sought to examine whether parity is associated with higher incidence of metabolic syndrome in postmenopausal women.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study on 4098 Korean postmenopausal women by using nationally representative data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2010-2012. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to evaluate the relationship between parity and metabolic syndrome, with adjustment for potential confounding variables.

Results: The rate of metabolic syndrome was significantly higher with increasing number of parity, with dose-response relationship in univariate analysis (P <0.001). In addition, higher parity (≥3 live births) was associated with more prevalence of all components of metabolic syndrome compared with two live births (parity 2 vs 3 vs ≥4: 5.5 vs 12.1 and 14.4%, respectively; P < 0.001). However, after adjusting for demographic, socioeconomic, lifestyle and reproductive factors, we found that only higher parity was significantly associated with metabolic syndrome compared with two live births, and failed to show a dose-dependent relationship (parity 2 vs 3 vs ≥4: odds ratio 1 vs 1.404 vs 1.379, respectively; P = 0.043). We also proved that among the components of metabolic syndrome, only waist circumference had a significant positive relationship with parity in a multivariable adjusted model (parity 2 vs 3 vs ≥4: odds ratio 1 vs 1.559 vs 1.656, respectively; P < 0.001).

Conclusion: Higher parity was independently associated with a higher risk of metabolic syndrome in postmenopausal women.