Associations between metabolic syndrome and mortality from cardiovascular disease in Japanese general population, findings on overweight and non-overweight individuals. Ibaraki Prefectural Health Study.
BACKGROUND
The impact of being overweight, as a component of the metabolic syndrome (MetS), for cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality was investigated and compared with the predictive value of MetS by 2 different definitions.


RESULTS
A 12-year prospective study of 30,774 Japanese men and 60,383 women aged 40-79 years was conducted. The multivariate hazard ratio (HR; 95% confidence interval) of total CVD mortality for overweight subjects with >or=2 additional risk factors with reference to subjects with 0 of 4 MetS components was 1.83 (1.41-2.38) for men and 1.90 (1.45-2.49) for women, and for non-overweight subjects with >or=2 additional risk factors 1.75 (1.38-2.24) and 1.97 (1.52-2.55), respectively. The proportion of excess CVD deaths in the latter group was 1.5-fold higher than that in the former group. Multivariate HRs of coronary heart disease and total CVD mortality for MetS by the modified criteria of the American Heart Association/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute were 1.62 (1.31-2.00) and 1.23 (1.09-1.39), respectively, for men and 1.32 (1.05-1.65) and 1.12 (1.00-1.25), respectively, for women. The respective HRs for MetS by the International Diabetic Federation definition did not reach statistical significance, except for coronary heart disease in men.


CONCLUSIONS
Non-overweight individuals with metabolic risk factors, as well as overweight individuals with such factors, should be targeted to reduce the CVD burden in the general population.
Irie
Fujiko
F
Department of Health and Social Services, Ibaraki Prefectural Government, Mito, Japan. fujiko-irie@nifty.com
Iso
Hiroyasu
H
Noda
Hiroyuki
H
Sairenchi
Toshimi
T
Otaka
Emiko
E
Yamagishi
Kazumasa
K
Doi
Mikio
M
Izumi
Yoko
Y
Ota
Hitoshi
H
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000208:ethnology / Q000401:mortality*; D008875:Middle Aged; D050177:Overweight / Q000150:complications / Q000208:ethnology / Q000401:mortality*; D015995:Prevalence; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors