Relationships among personality traits, metabolic syndrome, and metabolic syndrome scores: The Kakegawa cohort study

Objective: Metabolic syndrome and the presence of metabolic syndrome components are risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, the association between personality traits and metabolic syndrome remains controversial, and few studies have been conducted in East Asian populations. Methods: We measured personality traits using the Japanese version of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Revised Short Form) and five metabolic syndrome components—elevated waist circumference, elevated triglycerides, reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, and elevated fasting glucose—in 1322 participants aged 51.1 ± 12.7 years old from Kakegawa city, Japan. Metabolic syndrome score (MS score) was defined as the number of metabolic syndrome components present, and metabolic syndrome as having the MS score of 3 or higher. We performed multiple logistic regression analyses to examine the relationship between personality traits and metabolic syndrome components and multiple regression analyses to examine the relationship between personality traits and MS scores adjusted for age, sex, education, income, smoking status, alcohol use, and family history of CVD and diabetes mellitus. We also examine the relationship between personality traits and metabolic syndrome presence by multiple logistic regression analyses. Results: “Extraversion” scores were higher in those with metabolic syndrome components (elevated waist circumference: P = 0.001; elevated triglycerides: P = 0.01; elevated blood pressure: P = 0.004; elevated fasting glucose: P = 0.002). “Extraversion” was associated with the MS score (coefficient = 0.12, P = 0.0003). No personality trait was significantly associated with the presence of metabolic syndrome. Conclusions: Higher “extraversion” scores were related to higher MS scores, but no personality trait was significantly associated with the presence of metabolic syndrome.