title: Metabolic syndrome: stronger association with coronary artery disease in young men in comparison with higher prevalence in young women.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Being overweight, a constituent of the metabolic syndrome, is also an important contributing factor to the development of coronary artery disease in younger patients, compared with the older patient population. Owing to the above-mentioned fact, we sought to assess the association of the metabolic syndrome with premature coronary artery disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  In an analytic cross-sectional study, 940 patients (553 women<or=55 years and 387 men<or=45 years), 637 with coronary artery disease and 303 without coronary artery disease, were evaluated. The extent of atherosclerosis was assessed with a clinical vessel score. Besides established coronary artery disease risk factors, all patients were evaluated for the presence of metabolic syndrome based on the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III criteria.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall prevalences of metabolic syndrome and coronary artery disease were 56 and 67.8%, respectively. Metabolic syndrome prevalence was higher in women than in men (69.6 vs. 36.4%, P<0.001). The odds ratio of metabolic syndrome for premature coronary artery disease was 1.82 (95% confidence interval 1.17-2.82) after adjusting for age and multiple established coronary artery disease risk factors; the strength of this association varied by sex (2.17 in men vs. 1.22 in women).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study revealed a stronger association between metabolic syndrome and coronary artery disease in men<or=45 years than in women<or=55 years. It seems that endogenous estrogens may play a role in reducing the effects of metabolic syndrome-related risk and therefore in spite of higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome in young women, the effect of this syndrome on coronary artery disease is more dominant in young men.
authors: Research Department Tehran Heart Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran. sadeghian15@yahoo.com
authors: Saeed
authors: S
authors: Sadeghian
authors: Soodabeh
authors: S
authors: Darvish
authors: Shabnam
authors: S
authors: Salimi
authors: Farah Ayatollahzadeh
authors: FA
authors: Esfehani
authors: Nader
authors: N
authors: Fallah
authors: Mehran
authors: M
authors: Mahmoodian
authors: Mojtaba
authors: M
authors: Salarifar
authors: Abbasali
authors: A
authors: Karimi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004967:Estrogens / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D004967:Estrogens