The relationship between
aldehyde exposure and
metabolic syndrome is unclear; hence, we aimed to investigate the association between serum
aldehyde concentrations and
metabolic syndrome. We analyzed the data of 1471 participants from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey enrolled from 2013 to 2014. The association of serum
aldehyde concentrations with
metabolic syndrome was assessed via generalized linear models as well as restricted cubic splines, and endpoint events were further analyzed. After adjusting for covariates, both moderate (odds ratio [OR] = 2.73, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.34-5.56) and high (OR = 2.08, 95% CI: 1.06-4.07) concentrations of
isovaleraldehyde were associated with the risk of
metabolic syndrome. Interestingly, although a moderate concentration of
valeraldehyde was associated with the risk of
metabolic syndrome (OR = 1.08, 95% CI: 0.70-1.65), a high concentration was not (OR = 0.55, 95% CI: 0.17-1.79). Restricted cubic splines revealed a non-linear association between
valeraldehyde and
metabolic syndrome, and threshold effect analysis revealed that the inflection point for
valeraldehyde concentration was 0.7 ng/mL. The results of the subgroup analysis revealed differences in the relationship of
aldehyde exposure with components of
metabolic syndrome. High
isovaleraldehyde concentrations may increase the risk of
metabolic syndrome, and
valeraldehyde demonstrated a J-shaped relationship with the risk of
metabolic syndrome.