Abstract:

Objective To study the change of serum free fatty acid（FFA）in metabolic syndrome（MS）patients,and to investigate the correlation of serum FFA with the risk factors of MS. Methods A total of 400 patients with MS and 100 healthy subjects （healthy control group） were enrolled. Their fasting serum FFA,fasting insulin（FINS）,fasting plasma glucose （FPG） and blood lipids [total cholesterol （TC）,triglyceride （TG）,low-density lipoprotein cholesterol（LDL-C）and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol（HDL-C）] were determined,and homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance（HOMA-IR）was calculated. The height,weight,waist circumference,hip circumference,blood pressure,body mass index （BMI）and waist-to-hip ratio （WHR）were determined simultaneously. The 400 MS patients were classified into simple obesity group（120 cases）,diabetes mellitus group（110 cases）and hypertension group（170 cases）according to protopathies. Spearman analysis was used to analyze the correlations of serum FFA with blood lipids,blood pressure,FPG,BMI,WHR and insulin. Results Serum FFA,FPG,FINS,TC,TG,LDL-C,HOMA-IR,systolic blood pressure（SBP）,diastolic blood pressure（DBP）,BMI and WHR in MS group were higher than those in healthy control group （P<0.05）,but HDL-C was lower（P<0.05）. There was statistical significance for HOMA-IR and serum FFA in simple obesity,diabetes mellitus,hypertension and healthy control groups（P<0.05）. There were positive correlations of serum FFA with BMI,WHR,HOMA-IR,SBP,DBP,FPG,FINS,TG and LDL-C（r were 0.581,0.480,0.321,0.215,0.267,0.223,0.325,0.369 and 0.561,P<0.05）,and there was a negative correlation with HDL-C（r=-0.613,P<0.05）and no correlation with TC（r=0.674,P>0.05）. Conclusions Fasting serum FFA in MS patients is higher than that in healthy subjects with insulin sensitivity. Serum FFA is correlated in MS subgroups,and FPG,WHR,HDL-C and FINS have relationships with serum FFA and HOMA-IR.

Key words: Free fatty acid, Insulin resistance, Metabolic syndrome