"Our study found that the metabolic syndrome is a predictor of significant cardiovascular risk," said Oscar C. Marroquin, M.D., from the Cardiovascular Institute at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and principal investigator in the study. "However, the influence of metabolic status on cardiovascular risk appears to depend on the presence or absence of CAD at study entry. In women with angiographically significant CAD at study entry, the metabolic syndrome significantly increases the risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes similar in magnitude to the effect of diabetes. No such effect is seen in women without angiographically significant CAD at study entry."
People with three or more of the following criteria are classified as having metabolic syndrome: waist circumference greater than 35 inches for women, fasting triglycerides greater than 150mg/dl, HDL cholesterol less than 50mg/dl in women, hypertension (blood pressure >130/85 mm Hg, and fasting glucose greater 110mg/dl).
"Women with the metabolic syndrome had a four-year survival rate of 94.3 percent compared to 97.8 percent in women with normal metabolic status and 89.4 percent in those with diabetes. Thus, four-year event-free survival rates in women with the metabolic syndrome were intermediate between those with normal metabolic status and those with diabetes," Dr. Marroquin said.
However, among the subset of women with significant documented CAD, the four-year survival rate of 86.2 percent in women with the metabolic syndrome was nearly identical to
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Contact: Frank Raczkiewicz
RaczkiewiczFA@upmc.edu
412-647-3555
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
16-Feb-2004