Metabolic syndrome

Abstract

The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of the most dangerous heart attack risk factors, and up to a quarter of the world’s adults might have MetS. In general, cardiovascular diseases(CVD)are the most common cause of death in the world. As most patients show no obvious symptoms priorto the fi rst incident, identifi cation of risk factors and early intervention are important. Hypercholesterolemia is a well– established strong risk factor and is a primary target for the prevention ofCVD(Fig. 1, see chapter “ Hyperlipidemia ”). MetS has been identifi ed as the second target. It was previously called syndrome X [1] and insulin resistance syndrome [2], as low insulinsensitivity occurs frequently in this condition (Fig. 1).