Relationship between cortisol, life events and metabolic syndrome in men

Figures & data

Table I.  General characteristics of the entire sample of men (N = 149).

Variable	Mean	SD
Age (years)	58.6	7.7
BMI (kg/m^2)	27.7	4.1
Serum glucose (mg/dl)	108.0	29.4
Serum cortisol (μg/dl)	13.7	4.5
Serum TG/HDL-cholesterol	4.2	3.1
LE, number	5.4	4.0
LE, summed weight	240.8	186.2

Note: SD, standard deviation; BMI, body mass index; TG/HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio; LE, life events. Normal ranges: BMI 18.5–24.9 kg/m²; serum glucose 70–100 mg/dl; serum cortisol 5–25 μg/dl; serum TG/HDL-cholesterol < 3.0.

Table II.  Scores of participants with and without MS, using the IDF classification, on the main continuous and categorical study variables.

Variable	Without MS (n = 66)	With MS^1 (n = 83)
Age (years)
mean ± SD	58.7 ± 8.1	58.4 ± 7.5
BMI (kg/m^2)
mean ± SD	27.5 ± 4.0	27.8 ± 4.2
Waist circumference (cm)
mean ± SD	97.1 ± 1.5	102.4 ± 10.0*
Serum HDL-cholesterol (mg/dl)
mean ± SD	48.2 ± 19.0	43.0 ± 10.5*
Serum Triglycerides (mg/dl)
mean ± SD	148.9 ± 70.9	179.4 ± 98.5*
Serum glucose (mg/dl)
mean ± SD	102.2 ± 22.8	112.6 ± 33.1*
Hypertension, n (%)	22 (26%)	55 (87%)*
Serum cortisol (μg/dl)
Median (range)	13.3(5.9–29.4)	13.7(5.7–23.6)
Serum TG/HDL-cholesterol
mean ± SD	3.6 ± 2.4	4.6 ± 3.6^†
Lg_LE number
Mean ± SD	0.6 ± 0.3	0.7 ± 0.3^‡
Lg_LE weight sum
Mean ± SD	2.2 ± 0.3	2.3 ± 0.4*
Education level, n (%)
1-Primary/Secondary
School	58 (87.9)	75 (91.5)
2-University Degree	8 (12.1)	7 (8.5)
Marital status, n (%)
1-Married	33 (50)	51 (62.2)
2-Divorced	14 (21.2)	15 (18.3)
3-Unmarried	16 (24.2)	12 (14.6)
4-Widower	3 (4.5)	4 (4.9)
Smoking, n (%)
1-No (never)	58 (87.9)	69 (86.2)
2-Yes	8 (12.1)	11 (13.8)

Note: SD = standard deviation; BMI = body mass index; TG/HDL-cholesterol = triglycerides/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio; Lg_LE = Log-transformed LE. *p < 0.03; ^† p < 0.049; ^‡ p < 0.009. Continuous variables were compared using t-tests, and relationships with categorical variables were tested using χ² tests. Normal ranges: BMI 18.5–24.9 kg/m²; waist circumference < 90 cm*; serum HDL-cholesterol >40 mg/dl*; serum TG < 150 mg/dl*; serum glucose 70–100 mg/dl*; Blood pressure 130/85 mmHg*; serum cortisol 5–25 μg/dl; serum TG/HDL-cholesterol < 3.0.

¹ According to International Diabetes Federation (IDF) Metabolic Syndrome criteria.

Table III.  Multivariate logistic regression, with main variables predicting MS.

Variable	B	Significance, p	RR	95%CI
Age	0.02	0.49	1.02	0.96–1.09
BMI	0.04	0.37	1.04	0.95–1.14
Cortisol	− 0.01	0.89	0.99	0.92–1.08
LE, number	0.09	0.04	1.10	1.00–1.20

Note: RR = relative risk; 95%CI = 95% confidence interval; BMI = body mass index; LE = life events.

Figure 1.  Relationship between MS, cortisol, and LE. Data are mean ± SD. Low cortisol: men with serum cortisol concentration < 13.7 μg/dl. High cortisol: men with cortisol ≥ 13.7 μg/dl. Multivariate analysis was done, for each level of cortisol separately, testing whether LE correlated with MS, independent of other factors related to MS: p = 0.03 in High cortisol group, MS vs. no-MS.