• Jing Wu, Guiqiang Xu, Lijun Shen, Yanmei Zhang, Lulu Song, Siyi Yang, Handong Yang, Jing Yuan, Yuan Liang, Youjie Wang, and Tangchun Wu.
• 1 MOE Key Lab of Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology , Wuhan, China .
• J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2015 Jul 1; 24 (7): 602-7.

BackgroundStudies regarding the effects of parity on metabolic syndrome in later life have produced conflicting results. The purpose of this study was to explore the association between parity and the risk of metabolic syndrome and its components in a population of Chinese women.MethodsA cross-sectional study was performed in a total of 13,358 women (mean age 61.5 years) with at least one live birth from the Dongfeng-Tongji cohort study. Each woman completed baseline questionnaires and received baseline examination, including a physical examination and laboratory tests. Participants were categorized into four groups according to parity (one, two, three, four or more live births). The metabolic syndrome was defined according to the International Diabetes Foundation criteria. Logistic regression was conducted to examine the association between parity and metabolic syndrome, with adjustment of potential confounders.ResultsIn this study sample, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 38.6% (5,156 of 13,358). After adjusting for demographic, lifestyle, and reproduction-related factors, women with two, three, or four or more live births had 1.18 times (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.05-1.32), 1.44 times (95% CI, 1.24-1.67), and 1.52 times (95% CI, 1.26-1.83), respectively, higher odds of having metabolic syndrome compared with those with one live birth. Furthermore, parity showed a positive association with waist circumference and a negative association with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.ConclusionsMultiparity was associated with increasing risk of metabolic syndrome independent of main covariates in this population of Chinese women. The findings suggested that multiparity may be a risk factor for metabolic syndrome.

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