Metabolic Syndrome Can Be Reduced By Care

A multidisciplinary clinical approach to caring for obese patients with metabolic syndrome could lower their heart-disease risk, say U.S. researchers.

Researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee found that such care could lower their 10-year risk for cardiovascular disease by nearly 20 percent within six months.

This study highlights the benefits of a clinic that specializes in the needs of obese patients with metabolic syndrome says Dr. Safak Guven, clinical director of the Obesity/Metabolic Syndrome Clinic at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee.

Metabolic syndrome affects approximately 24 percent of the U.S. adult population; according to the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey criteria. Metabolic syndrome — without type 2 diabetes — significantly increases the risk of coronary heart disease.

Metabolic syndrome occurs in abdominally obese, insulin-resistant patients, with or without type 2 diabetes, and having any of several conditions, including: cholesterol abnormalities, hypertension, clotting, or inflammatory protein factors in their blood.

Guven presented the findings at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists Annual Meeting in Chicago.