Metabolic Syndrome: A Multiplex Cardiovascular Risk Factor
- 1 February 2007
- journal article
- review article
- Published by The Endocrine Society in Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism
- Vol. 92 (2), 399-404
- https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2006-0513
Abstract
The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a multiplex risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The syndrome develops through interplay of obesity and metabolic susceptibility. This article addresses whether the MetS construct has clinical utility. POSITION: The National Cholesterol Education Program and other organizations have proposed that the MetS can be recognized clinically by a clustering of simple clinical measures including waist circumferences, blood pressure, triglycerides, high-density lipoproteins, and glucose. People with this clustering have most or all of the components of the MetS. Identifying the MetS has several advantages. It discovers persons who are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease. A diagnosis focuses more clinical attention on the underlying causes, notably obesity and other lifestyle factors; it thereby reinforces the utility of lifestyle changes in clinical practice. A diagnosis further informs physicians on choice and intensity of drug therapy for elevated cholesterol, aspirin prophylaxis, and blood pressure and glucose control. The introduction of the MetS has led to a large number of epidemiological, metabolic, and genetic studies that have heightened our understanding of the condition's prevalence and pathogenesis. It has been a stimulus to the development of new drugs or drug combinations that will modify multiple risk factors simultaneously. This author holds that the MetS counts as a multiplex cardiovascular risk factor that is clinically useful and will lead to advances in diagnosis and treatment of an important cause of cardiovascular disease.Keywords
This publication has 27 references indexed in Scilit:
- Adipose TissueDiabetes, 2006
- Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity in the United States, 1999-2004JAMA, 2006
- Clinical value of the metabolic syndrome for long term prediction of total and cardiovascular mortality: prospective, population based cohort studyBMJ, 2006
- Diagnosis and Management of the Metabolic SyndromeCirculation, 2005
- Fat in the liver and insulin resistanceAnnals of Medicine, 2005
- Does the Metabolic Syndrome Improve Identification of Individuals at Risk of Type 2 Diabetes and/or Cardiovascular Disease?Diabetes Care, 2004
- Implications of Recent Clinical Trials for the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III GuidelinesCell Metabolism, 2004
- Acquired and Inherited LipodystrophiesNew England Journal of Medicine, 2004
- Comment on the provisional report from the WHO consultationDiabetic Medicine, 1999
- Role of Insulin Resistance in Human Disease (Syndrome X): An Expanded DefinitionAnnual Review of Medicine, 1993