GDF15 and Abdominal obesity: Similarly, a recent study conducted to explore the association of the metabolic syndrome and its components with GDF-15 among older adults has shown a close relation between GDF-15 and low HDL cholesterol levels, concluding that the metabolic syndrome is associated with higher GDF-15 levels in older adults with abdominal obesity, hyperglycemia, low HDL cholesterol and inflammation as the main drivers of this association [40].