The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between arterial stiffness,as measured by brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity(baPWV),and the presence of the metabolic syndrome(MS)in a Chinese population.A total of 4,445 subjects were enrolled.The prevalence of MS in our study population was 21.7%,17.2%and 25.6%for the general population,males and females,respectively.With adjustments for age,gender,cigarette smoking,heart rate,total cholesterol,low-density lipoprotein(LDL)cholesterol,and the use of anti-hypertensive drug,the stepwise regression analysis showed that baPWV had a significant relationship with components of MS,including systolic blood pressure(P<0.001),diastolic blood pressure(P<0.001),glucose(P<0.001),highdensity lipoprotein(HDL)cholesterol(P=0.04),and triglycerides(P<0.001),but no relationship with waist circumference(P=0.25).With an increase in the number of the MS components,baPWV increased significantly both in women and men.This study indicated that the MS is indeed a risk factor for arterial stiffness.Monitoring of baPWV in patients with MS may help in identifying persons at high risk for cardiovascular disease. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between arterial stiffness, as measured by brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), and the presence of the metabolic syndrome (MS) in a Chinese population. A total of 4,445 subjects were enrolled. The prevalence of MS in our study population was 21.7%, 17.2% and 25.6% for the general population, males and females, respectively. Who adjusted for age, gender, cigarette smoking, heart rate, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein ) cholesterol, and the use of anti-hypertensive drug, the stepwise regression analysis showed that baPWV had a significant relationship with components of MS, including systolic blood pressure (P <0.001), diastolic blood pressure (P <0.001) <0.001), but no relationship with waist circumference (P = 0.25) .With an increase in the number of the MS components, baPWV increased significantly (P = 0.04), and triglycerides both in women and men. This study indicated that the MS is indeed a risk factor for arterial stiffness. Monitoring of baPWV in patients with MS may help in identifying persons at high risk for cardiovascular disease.