[Is the metabolic syndrome still a useful entity?].
Metabolic syndrome involves as a single entity many cardiovascular risk factors, but the value of current definitions of metabolic syndrome to predict cardiovascular risk is low, since these definitions do not add anything to the predictive value of the individual risk factors used to define the syndrome. Measuring waist circumference as a screening tool is probably more operational The main advantage of the concept of metabolic syndrome is to identify a possible common pathophysiological substrate for many risk factors in the syndrome. The visceral obesity, and insulin resistance associated with it, are the probable causes of a syndrome that has been "oversold".
Charbonnel
Bernard
B
Clinique d'endocrinologie, maladies métaboliques et nutrition, Hôtel-Dieu, 44093 Nantes Cedex 1. bernard.charbonnel@univ-nantes.fr
D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000150:complications*; D056128:Obesity, Abdominal / Q000150:complications; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors