Even though the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in adolescents is increasing, little is presently known about this syndrome in adolescents. This study aimed to cluster metabolic risk factors as well as examine the associations between identified patterns and nutrient intake using data from the Korean National Health Examination and Nutritional Assessment (KNHANES).

A total of 2,958 subjects aged 10 to 18 years along with both biochemical and dietary data information were obtained from KNHANES 2007-2010. Six components of metabolic syndrome were used to identify any patterns via factor analysis. Individuals were categorized into quartile groups according to their pattern score.

Three clustering patterns with high loadings were identified and named as follows: 1) high blood pressure, 2) dyslipidemia, and 3) glucose abnormality patterns. The high blood pressure pattern showed high loadings of systolic and diastolic blood pressures, the dyslipidemia pattern showed high loadings of triglyceride and HDL-cholesterol levels, and the glucose abnormality pattern showed high loadings of fasting blood glucose levels. Intakes of fat and riboflavin were significantly decreased, whereas those of sodium and niacin were significantly increased across the quartiles in the dyslipidemia pattern. No nutrient intake except that of thiamin was significantly associated with the high blood pressure or glucose abnormality pattern.

Our findings show that metabolic syndrome risk factors in the Korean adolescent population are characterized by three distinct patterns, which are differentially associated with dietary factors. Characterizing metabolic risk factors and providing specific dietary guidelines for target groups are important.