The association between bilirubin levels, and the incidence of metabolic syndrome and diabetes mellitus: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this meta-analysis was to investigate the association between plasma bilirubin levels and the incidence of metabolic syndrome and diabetes mellitus across all populations.

METHODS: Several databases were searched, including PubMed (Medline), Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase (Elsevier), to identify relevant cohort studies. All cohort studies that reported the risk ratio along with a 95% confidence interval were included. The association between bilirubin levels and metabolic syndrome or diabetes was reported as a pooled RR with a 95% CI in the forest plot. All analyses were conducted using STATA version 17, with a significance level of 0.05.

RESULTS: Out of the 10 studies included in the analysis, four investigated the effect of hyperbilirubinemia on the incidence of type 2 diabetes. When these four studies were combined, the pooled RR was 0.78 (95% CI: 0.73, 0.83; I2 : 88.61%; P heterogeneity  <  0.001), indicating a significant association between hyperbilirubinemia and decreased risk of type 2 diabetes. Five of the 10 studies evaluated the effect of hyperbilirubinemia on the incidence of metabolic syndrome, and the pooled RR was 0.70 (95% CI: 0.67, 0.73; I2 : 78.13%; P heterogeneity  <  0.001), indicating a significant association between hyperbilirubinemia and decreased risk of metabolic syndrome.

CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that elevated levels of bilirubin may have a significant protective effect against the development of diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome.