Background: Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a common inflammatory disorder of pancreas. Recent evidence has shown that metabolic syndrome was positively correlated with the severity of AP. However, only few studies have revealed the relationship between metabolic syndrome and the occurrence of AP. We therefore elucidated the association between the metabolic syndrome components and the incidence rate of AP. Methods: A hospital-based case-control study was conducted. 705 patients admitted to our hospital from January 2016 to December 2018 were included in the study. Subjects were divided into case and control group according to their diagnosis: (1) According to the revised Atlanta classification from 2012, patients diagnosed as AP were enrolled into case group. (2) Patients without history of AP or any disease related to metabolic syndrome were allocated into control group. Controls were matched to cases individually by sex and age (control/case ratio=1). Risk factors were determined by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. Results: The incidence rate of metabolic syndrome with AP patients was 30.9%, which was more frequent than controls (13.2%) (OR=2.975; 95%CI 1.947-4.548, p<0.001). In multivariate regression analysis, histories of smoking or alcohol drinking, biliary stone were important predictors of AP. Besides, occurrence of AP was significantly associated with total cholesterol (TC) (OR=1.831; 95%CI 1.137-2.948, p=0.013), triglyceride (TG) (OR=2.058; 95%CI 1.332-3.179, p=0.001), fasting plasma glucose (FPG) (OR =2.345; 95%CI 1.395-3.940, p=0.001), as well as low values of apolipoprotein A (Apo A) (OR =0.247; 95%CI 0.146-0.416, p<0.001). Conclusion: Metabolic syndrome and its components portend high risks of occurrence of AP.