Associations Between Unhealthy Lifestyle Behaviors and Metabolic Syndrome by Gender in Young Adults

Objective: Unhealthy lifestyle behaviors, such as smoking, drinking, betel-quid chewing, insufficient exercise, and inadequate sleep are significantly correlated with metabolic syndrome (MetS). To further understand this relationship, this study examined the main effect of unhealthy lifestyle behaviors and their interaction on MetS by gender in young adults. Method: A cross-sectional study involving 694 young adults from a national survey was performed in which demographic characteristics, unhealthy lifestyle behaviors, anthropometric measurements, and blood chemistry panels were collected during face-to-face interviews. Results: The prevalence of MetS among young adults was 17.4% and was greater in males than females (19.0% vs. 7.8%). The unhealthy lifestyle-behavior risk factors associated with MetS included smoking (odds ratio [OR] = 4.53) and physical activity (OR = 0.51) among males and betel-quid chewing (OR = 8.90) and less sleep (OR = 0.08) among females. Significant interaction effects were observed between the abovementioned behaviors and gender for the risk of developing MetS. Conclusion: These results can guide health-care providers in reducing MetS risk by encouraging young adult males to reduce or quit cigarette smoking and maintain optimum levels of physical activity and young adult females to quit chewing betel quid and obtain appropriate amounts of sleep.