A prospective study on the prevalence of metabolic syndrome among healthy french families: two cardiovascular risk factors (HDL cholesterol and tumor necrosis factor-alpha) are revealed in the offspring of parents with metabolic syndrome.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to estimate the longitudinal variation of prevalence of metabolic syndrome within French families and to observe biological parameters involved in cardiovascular disease among their offspring.


METHODS
Three hundred seventy-one apparently healthy families (1,366 individuals) taken from the STANISLAS cohort were studied. The subjects were examined at two time points with a 5-year interval (t(0) and t(+5)). The crude prevalence of metabolic syndrome was assessed among parents according to the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP) definition.


RESULTS
The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 5.9% in men and 2.1% in women at t(0), rising to 7.2 and 5.4% in men and women, respectively, at t(+5). Children of parents having metabolic syndrome showed higher levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), whereas their HDL cholesterol and apolipoprotein (apo) E concentrations were lower compared with those of age- and sex-matched control subjects (P </= 0.05). When applying NCEP ATP definitions that included either antihypertensive drugs only or all the drugs involved in metabolic syndrome, we found that the three parameters shared by the three different versions of the definition were TNF-alpha, HDL cholesterol, and an interaction between alcohol consumption and parental metabolic syndrome on HDL cholesterol concentration.


CONCLUSIONS
Metabolic syndrome increases with age in supposedly healthy families from the STANISLAS cohort. In offspring of affected people, it seems to be predictive of higher values of TNF-alpha and low HDL cholesterol levels, which are two major cardiovascular factors. Therefore, in terms of prevention, it is important to identify and follow subjects with metabolic syndrome as well as their offspring, even in apparently healthy populations, to enable early disease management.
Maumus
Sandy
S
Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Unit 525, 30 rue Lionnois, 54000 Nancy, France.
Marie
Bérangère
B
Siest
Gérard
G
Visvikis-Siest
Sophie
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001794:Blood Pressure; D049628:Body Size; D002648:Child; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood*; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics; D008875:Middle Aged; D009679:Nuclear Family; D018579:Patient Selection; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism*
D015415:Biomarkers; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D002784:Cholesterol