Metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular risk

Abstract

The effects of isolated and associated cardiovascular risk factors have been investigated since the mid-twentieth century, but the relationship between the elements of what is now termed the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and cardiovascular risk was paid little attention until 1988, when Reaven described the role of insulin resistance in human disease, which he called syndrome X.1 This did not include obesity, particularly abdominal obesity, which came to be considered an important component of insulin resistance syndrome, now known as MetS, the designation preferred by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.