Body composition affects blood lipids and vascular function in metabolically unhealthy or metabolically healthy older adult women with obesity: A multi-group path analysis/impact verification following latent profile analysis

Objectives: This study aimed to perform latent profile analysis (LPA) in older adult women with metabolic syndrome to extract a group according to their characteristics while controlling for body composition, blood lipid levels, and vascular function. The study also examined the relationship between different variables. Methods: The participants were 35 women aged ≥65 years, who met the Korean female standards for metabolic syndrome. Blood collection, blood pressure measurements, and vascular function measurements were performed. LPA and multigroup path analysis (MGPA) were performed to statistically analyze the effects of body composition on blood lipid levels and vascular function in older adult women with metabolic syndrome. Mplus 8.3 and jamovi 2.0.0 were used for the analyses, and the control significance level was set at.05. Results: The participants were divided into the following three groups: (G1) metabolically unhealthy participants with normal weight, (G2) normal-weight participants with arteriosclerosis, and (G3) obese but metabolically healthy participants (G3). The effect of body composition on blood lipid levels showed a significant difference only in G1. The effect of body composition on vascular function was influenced by various variables in G1 and G3, while G1 showed a higher explanatory power. Conclusions: The MGPA results showed that the relationship between variables differs depending on the group. Therefore, the metabolic syndrome should be studied by subdividing it and confirming the characteristics of the classified groups, such as normal-weight but metabolically unhealthy individuals and obese but metabolically healthy individuals.