title: Prevalence of overweight, obesity and metabolic syndrome components in multiple sclerosis patients with significant disability.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Information about metabolic comorbidities in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) is scarce. Our aim was to examine the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components in patients with long duration of MS and significant disability.
  
  
  METHODS
  Demographic and clinical data, weight, height, waist circumference, blood pressure, and levels of fasting glucose, triglycerides and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were obtained from 130 MS patients with Extended Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score ≥3.0.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventy-two percent were female, mean ± SD age 55.8 ± 6.0, range 45-65 years, disease duration 18.2 ± 10.1 years, EDSS 5.5 ± 1.0. Obesity [body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 kg/m(2) ] was present in 18.5% and overweight (BMI 25.0-29.9 kg/m(2) ) in 34.6%. The prevalence of the MetS was 30% with no gender difference. Fifty-six percent had central obesity by waist circumference, 28% treated hypertension, 45.8% elevated blood pressure, 11% type 2 diabetes mellitus, 31.4% treated dyslipidemia, 28.8% elevated triglyceride levels and 31.4% had low HDL-C. MS patients with MetS were significantly older (59.0 ± 5.5 vs. 53.8 ± 5.5, P < 0.0001) and heavier (BMI 29.0 ± 6.9 vs. 25.1 ± 4.7, P = 0.0009). There were no differences between the groups in neurological disability by the EDSS (5.7 ± 1.0 vs. 5.4 ± 1.0), disease duration (18.4 ± 9.9 vs. 18.2 ± 10.2 years) and number of steroid courses received (6.6 ± 9.5 vs. 6.3 ± 8.4).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Compared to the general population, adult disabled MS patients had lower rates of obesity and overweight, as assessed by BMI. Despite these reduced rates, the prevalence of the MetS was similar to the general population. Specifically higher rates of increased waist circumference were found, suggesting that the lower BMI may be misleading in terms of health risk.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes Unit, Edmond and Lily Safra Children's Hospital, Sheba Medical Center, Ramat-Gan, Israel.|Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Pinhas-Hamiel
authors.affiliation: Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel.|Multiple Sclerosis Center, Sheba Medical Center, Ramat-Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Livne
authors.affiliation: Medistat, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Harari
authors.affiliation: Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel.|Multiple Sclerosis Center, Sheba Medical Center, Ramat-Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Achiron
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
keywords: cardiovascular risk; metabolic syndrome; multiple sclerosis; obesity; overweight; waist circumference