Don’t end up here, get
tested for metabolic syndrome!

I am sure you have heard by now about the link between metabolic syndrome and cardiac disease. It now has been added as a risk factor in this dreaded disease. Well, now there is something else for those of you who are plagued with this syndrome to be aware of. A recently released study this month from Portugal points to metabolic syndrome being associated with compromised heart structure and function. So, for those of you who thought you were safe, you may want to read more about this increased risk.

Metabolic syndrome is typified by high blood pressure, weight gain around the middle and problems regulating blood sugar. For a more detailed description of metabolic syndrome go here. For indicators of the syndrome, a patient would exhibit any 3 of the following 5 components:

- triglycerides > 150 mg/dL

- HDL cholesterol < 40 mg/ dL

- fasting glucose > 110 mg/dL

- systolic blood pressure > 130 mm Hg or diastolic pressure > 85 mm Hg

- obesity (defined as BMI > 28.8 kg/m2)

For those of you who may not have heard about the previous study that addressed metabolic syndrome as a risk factor in heart disease, you may want to see more detail as reported in an article in about.com. This article reveals that in the December 15 issue of Circulation, a study was conducted in which the researchers evaluated over 10,000 people for metabolic syndrome, and adjusted their data statistically to account for other risk factors such as age, sex, and smoking. The data reveal that metabolic syndrome (formerly known as metabolic syndrome X) is a major risk factor for both heart attack (myocardial infarction) and stroke.

This previous study released in December and the study released this month, have significance for all of us, especially in evaluating our own risk factors. To address these new findings, the medical profession needs to step up its attention to this syndrome and assess these new risk factors with their patients. In relation to this, Dr. Richard Fogoros stated:

This new study should make more doctors and patients aware of the importance of metabolic syndrome. Since the prevalence of obesity - and the other components of metabolic syndrome - are rapidly increasing in western cultures, tests for the early detection of metabolic syndrome should become part of the routine medical examination.

A symptom of metabolic syndrome is prominent weight gain around midsection.

To further highlight the concern in the medical community, Dr. Ana Azevedo, a researcher for this latest study was quoted in an article in medpagestoday.com,, “that as metabolic syndrome becomes more severe, symptomatic heart failure and several cardiac structural and functional abnormalities may increase progressively”. This study showed that…

there was a positive association between the degree of the metabolic syndrome — assessed as the number of concurrently present components — and measures of cardiac structure (left-ventricular diameter and mass, posterior wall height and interventricular septum height) and function. Importantly, early asymptomatic stages of cardiac dysfunction increased progressively with the severity of the metabolic syndrome, independent of systolic blood pressure.

The researchers further noted that if there is increasing insulin resistance with increasing degree of metabolic syndrome, this might be due to a mitogenic stimulus for cardiac hypertrophy (increase in size). They concluded that it is not surprising therefore that cardiac structural features were significantly associated with increasing severity of the metabolic syndrome.

So, now that we know the implications to heart health from metabolic syndrome. Who is most likely to have it? According to Dr. Fogoros, this condition is thought to run in families and the same families who have a history of type 2 diabetes are at risk. The family members at risk who actually go on to develop it are those who adopt sedentary lifestyles, and who become obese. In fact, metabolic syndrome (like type 2 diabetes) can most often be prevented with exercise and weight loss. Dr. Fogoros further emphasizes that anyone with a family history of type 2 diabetes who is also overweight and who gets little exercise, should be evaluated for the glucose, lipid and blood pressure abnormalities associated with this syndrome.

For those of you who would like to answer 17 questions that will evaluate your cardiac risk which now includes the assessment for metabolic syndrome, go to AmericanHeart.org. It only takes a few minutes, and it may just save your life.