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, researchers from
the landmark Framingham Heart Study presented data Friday 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.
On the Net:
http://www.strokeassociation.org
Reference
Source 102
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