Abstract: Objective To explore the relationship between fatty liver disease(FLD) and metabolic syndrome(MS).Methods A cross-sectional survey was carried out among 1 113 adults with questionaire survey,physical examination,biochemical inspection,and ultrasonic examination.The diagnosis of MS and its components followed the United States National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III-2005 revision(A T P III2005).Results The prevalences of FLD and MS were 17.1% and 9.0% with the age-standardized prevalences of 20.05%,9.97% in men and 9.7%,8.54% in women.The positive rates of waist circumference(WC),body mass index(BMI),fasting plasma glucose(FPG),triglyceride(TG),systolic blood pressure(SBP),and diastolic blood pressure(DBP) in FLD group were significantly higher than that of in non-FLD (P<0.01)with the odds ratios (OR) of 2.80-19.5.The risk of fatty liver was inereased with the aggregation of components of MS.The value of OR for FLD was 9.56,17.67,and 41.13 for adults with ≥1,≥2,≥3 abnormal comporents of MS,respectively.The positive rates of WC,FPG,TG,high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol,SBP,DBP,and FLD in MS group were significantly higher than that of non-MS (P<0.01)with the OR values of 3.00-30.7.Conclusion Obesity,high triglyceride,high blood sugar and high blood pressure are risk factors for fatty liver.Obesity is the key factor.The risk factors are positively correlated with the incidence of fatty liver.Fatty liver is an important risk factor for metabolic syndrome.