Epidemic obesity and the metabolic syndrome

Abstract

An increasingly recognized risk factor for cardiovascular disease is the metabolic syndrome. Although many investigators believe that insulin resistance is the underlying cause of it, some features, such as hypertension, are more weakly correlated with insulin resistance. The NCEP definition of the metabolic syndrome is relatively simple and is related to risk of cardiovascular disease. Primary treatment should be behavioral intervention, but treatment of existing comorbid conditions such as hypertension and dyslipidemia needs to be considered. It is likely that subjects with the metabolic syndrome will receive more aggressive therapy than those with similar global risk without the metabolic syndrome. However, no guidelines address this issue at present.