Metabolic syndrome doubles stroke risk
Sunday, February 8, 2004 Posted: 8:06 AM EST (1306 GMT)
http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/02/0...k.ap/index.html
SAN DIEGO, California (AP) -- An ominous and increasingly common mix of obesity and other health ills, known as metabolic syndrome, has been found to roughly double the risk of a stroke.
Doctors have recently come to appreciate the importance of this combination of bad health signs, largely because it often foreshadows heart attacks and the development of diabetes.
Diabetes itself significantly increases the risk of strokes -- the nation's third-leading killer. Now, new research shows that metabolic syndrome also appears to be a powerful trigger of strokes, even in people who do not yet have diabetes.
"Metabolic syndrome is a major health hazard, as we learn more and more about it, particularly in women and minorities, but we have known very little about its relationship to strokes," said Dr. Edgar Kenton of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.
The latest findings suggest it may be possible to forestall strokes by aggressively treating metabolic syndrome.
About one-quarter of U.S. adults have metabolic syndrome, which is also sometimes called syndrome X. They have three of five common conditions: abdominal obesity, high blood sugar, high triglycerides, high blood pressure or low HDL, the good form of cholesterol.
At a meeting in San Diego of the American Stroke Association this week, researchers from the landmark Framingham Heart Study presented data on the stroke risk among those with the syndrome.
During 10 years of follow-up, men with metabolic syndrome had a 78 percent greater risk of strokes than those without the combination, and for women the risk was more than double.
"Metabolic syndrome is certainly more prevalent than type 2 diabetes, so the public health impact is greater," said Robert Najarian, a third-year medical student from Boston University who presented the data.
In the Framingham volunteers, metabolic syndrome was three times more common than adult-onset -- or type 2 -- diabetes. Getting rid of their metabolic syndrome would eliminate about 20 percent of all strokes.
The study was based on 1,881 diabetes-free men and women who were the children of the original participants in the Framingham study, which began in 1948 in a town west of Boston. Their average age was 59.
Strokes occurred during the 10 years in 8 percent of the men and 6 percent of women with metabolic syndrome, as well as in 14 percent of men and 10 percent of women with diabetes.
People have metabolic syndrome with a combination of:
• Waist circumference greater than 35 inches in women and 40 inches in men.
• HDL below 40 in men and 50 in women.
• Blood pressure of 130 over 85 or greater.
• Fasting blood sugar between 110 and 126.
• Triglycerides over 150.
Another study, conducted on 3,298 older volunteers in northern Manhattan, found that metabolic syndrome appears to be especially dangerous for Hispanics, accounting for about 40 percent of their strokes.
Dr. Tanja Rundek of Columbia University said the syndrome may trigger strokes by stiffening the blood vessels, making them less able to expand and contract with each heartbeat.
"We think it is important to look at the all of the components of metabolic syndrome and treat them aggressively if we are going to prevent our patients from having strokes," said Dr. Brett Kissela of the University of Cincinnati.
"Metabolic syndrome doubles stroke risk"
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