Associations between metabolites and between metabolites and MetS and its components. a: The associations between 20 MetS-associated metabolites and MetS components in the internal validation dataset (N=1157). The cells in blank signify that the correlation was non-significant (P>0.05); b: The associations between the 20 MetS-associated metabolites in the internal validation dataset (N=1157). The cells in blank signify that the correlation was non-significant (P>0.05); c: The associations of metabolites with MetS and its components in the external validation dataset (N=402). The OR was adjusted for age and sex. MetS, metabolic syndrome; BMI, body mass index; SBP, systolic blood pressure; DBP, diastolic blood pressure; TG, triglyceride; HDL-C, high density lipoprotein cholesterol; FPG, fasting plasma glucose; HOMA-IR, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance; OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.