Metabolic syndrome has been associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes. Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the most common motor neurodegenerative disease, affecting 1% of those aged over 60 years globally. In a September 2025 publication in Neurology, researchers Xinjie Zhang and colleagues sought to clarify the relationship between metabolic syndrome and PD using data from the UK Biobank. They found an increased risk of PD in people with metabolic syndrome.
The prospective study comprised 467,200 participants aged 37 to 73 from the UK Biobank. 37.97% were diagnosed with metabolic syndrome. This diagnosis requires three of the following qualifying factors: hypertension (≥130/85 mmHg), dyslipidemia (high-density lipoprotein [HDL] <1.04 mmol/L in men and <1.30 mmol/L in women), hypertriglyceridemia (≥1.70 mmol/L), hyperglycaemia (haemoglobin A1C [HbA1c] ≥5.7%) and elevated waist circumference (≥102cm in men, ≥88cm in women). Over the 14.5-year follow-up period, 3,222 patients developed PD.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Access deeper industry intelligence
Experience unmatched clarity with a single platform that combines unique data, AI, and human expertise.
The study found the risk of developing PD to be 1.39 times higher in people with metabolic syndrome than in those without. The researchers also noted that the risk of developing PD was higher in people with more qualifying factors of metabolic syndrome than in those with fewer. The risk of PD in people with three metabolic syndrome factors was 1.41 times higher than that of those with none, and that relative risk increased to 2.23 times higher in people with five metabolic syndrome factors.
The authors also performed a meta-analysis combining their results with those of eight other observational studies, leading to a sample size of 24.8 million participants. The meta-analysis found that the risk of PD is 1.29 times higher in people with metabolic syndrome than those without, corroborating the current study. When broken down by factor, the meta-analysis showed that PD risk increased 1.13 times in people with high waist circumference, 1.2 times in people with hypertension, 1.23 times in people with dyslipidemia and 1.26 times in people with hyperglycaemia. No increased risk was associated with hypertriglyceridemia. Â
GlobalData epidemiologists forecast that from 2025 onward in the UK, the total prevalence of hypertriglyceridemia and diagnosed prevalence of hypertension will remain steady, while the diagnosed prevalence of dyslipidemia and obesity will increase. In all four indications, cases will increase due to population growth in the UK (hypertriglyceridemia annual growth rate [AGR]: 0.60%, hypertension AGR: 0.60%, dyslipidemia AGR: 0.77%, obesity AGR: 0.47%). Both the diagnosed prevalence and diagnosed prevalent cases of PD are also projected to increase (AGR: 1.87%), as is the proportion of the UK population aged 60 years and older. The combination of an increasing and ageing population and the constant or increasing prevalence of metabolic syndrome factors may play a role in the increasing prevalence of PD.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalData
