Association of aging-related obesity and metabolic syndrome in men

A study that involved 253 men (age 22–74 years) revealed an increase in the intensity of fat tissue accumulation at the beginning of the first period of middle age already; the increase was associated with the transition from the predominance of the gynoid type of obesity to that of the android type. The increase in the incidence of both individual components of metabolic syndrome and the syndrome as a whole was most pronounced in men in the second period of middle age, whereas the frequency of occurrence of such syndrome components as hypertriglyceridemia, low level of HDL cholesterol, and hyperglycemia was lower in the elderly. The value of the index of visceral obesity was significantly higher in men with the android type of obesity in all of the studied age groups. Thus, the risk of metabolic syndrome development in men with the gynoid type of obesity is lower than in men with the android type of obesity, regardless of the age of the subjects.