'Metabolic Syndrome' Offers No Benefit in Risk Assessment

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'Metabolic Syndrome' Offers No Benefit in Risk Assessment (From The Lancet)

Diagnosing "metabolic syndrome" has no apparent clinical value, reports a Lancet study released early online.

To study whether the syndrome can predict risk for cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, researchers used two study populations comprising some 7500 elderly individuals (aged 60 to 82 years) without diabetes at baseline. Members of the first population either had preexisting cardiovascular disease or were at heightened risk for it. The second group, drawn from the general population, was used to corroborate the results of the first study.

In both studies, metabolic syndrome was associated strongly with risk for diabetes, but the association between metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease was negligible. In addition, increased fasting glucose alone was strongly associated with diabetes — to the extent that the authors say a separate diagnosis of metabolic syndrome is "not necessary."

A commentator from the American Diabetes Association agrees, calling the work "another nail in the coffin of the metabolic syndrome."

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