"The metabolic syndrome... is dead": these reports are an exaggeration
Abstract
The debates continue over the validity of the metabolic syndrome concept. The continuous increment of the obesity pandemic is almost worldwide paralleled by rising rates of metabolic syndrome prevalence. Then, it seems obvious that these debates drove the need for further investigations as well as a deeper cooperation between relevant national and international organizations regarding the issue. Instead, part of the scientific community elected to totally "dismiss" the concept of the metabolic syndrome. Meanwhile, the best available evidence from three consecutive large meta-analyses has systematically shown that people with metabolic syndrome are at increased risk of cardiovascular events. The most recent and largest of them included near one million patients (total n = 951,083). The investigators concluded that the metabolic syndrome is associated with a 2-fold increase in cardiovascular outcomes and a 1.5-fold increase in all-cause mortality rates. One of the ways to hit the metabolic syndrome is an utterly simplistic view on this concept as a predictive tool only. Of course, the presence of the metabolic syndrome possesses a definite predictive value, but first of all it is a widely accepted concept regarding a biological condition based on the complex and interrelated pathophysiological mechanisms starting from excess central adiposity and insulin resistance. Therefore, it is completely unfair to compare it with statistically constructed predictive tools, including…
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