According to a new research published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, people with metabolic syndrome are at a greater risk of dying from cardiovascular diseases than people who do not have the condition. Scientists also revealed that diabetes or high blood pressure increases this risk factor.
For those not aware about metabolic syndrome, it is a cluster of risk factors that raise the chances of developing heart disease, stroke and diabetes. These risk factors include abdominal obesity, high levels of fats in the blood called triglycerides, elevated blood pressure, high fasting blood sugar and reduced high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or good, cholesterol levels.
According to the Hormone Health Network, as many as 22.9 per cent of adults in the US alone have metabolic syndrome. This disorder leads to an average of $40,873 in medical expenses for an adult with metabolic syndrome over the course of 10 years, the Society’s Endocrine Facts and Figures report shows.
Prof. Ki-Chul Sung, MD, PhD, of Kangbuk Samsung Hospital at Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea said based on the findings of the study that people who have metabolic syndrome have a 1.6-fold-increase in cardiovascular mortality compared to those who did not have the condition.
“Women who have metabolic syndrome faced a great risk of death from any cause than their counterparts who did not”, Sung added.
The retrospective study examined the records of 155,971 people who participated in a health screening program at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital between 2002 and 2009. Participants completed questionnaires and had their body weight, body mass index, blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar measured.
The researchers measured mortality among the subjects by pulling death records from the Korea National Statistical Office. During the median follow-up period of 3.7 years, 542 of the study participants died.
Among the subjects, 12.6 percent had metabolic syndrome at the time of the initial screening. The analysis showed that people with metabolic syndrome faced a greater risk of death from cardiovascular disease than their counterparts. However, this difference disappeared when people with diabetes or high blood pressure were excluded from the analysis.
“The analysis tells us diabetes and high blood pressure are significant factors that elevate the risk of death from cardiovascular disease among people with metabolic syndrome,” said another author of the study, Prof..Eun-Jung Rhee, MD, PhD, of Kangbuk Samsung Hospital at Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine. “Younger people who have metabolic syndrome should be aware of the risk, particularly those who have diabetes and high blood pressure.”
