Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2004, Hoang et al. assessed the 10-year coronary heart disease (CHD) risk in individuals with or without the metabolic syndrome. The study sample comprised 4,293 U.S. adults 20-79 years of age. The authors showed that individuals with the metabolic syndrome were not necessarily at high CHD risk, as 38.5% of individuals with the metabolic syndrome had a low (<6%) 10-year CHD risk, compared to 79.7% of individuals without the metabolic syndrome. On the other hand, 33.7% of participants with the metabolic syndrome had either diabetes mellitus and/or prevalent cardiovascular disease (CVD) while only 4.9% of participants without the metabolic syndrome had either diabetes mellitus and/or prevalent CVD. The study also showed that one-third of participants with the metabolic syndrome did not meet their blood pressure goals. Moreover, 40% of them did not meet their LDL cholesterol goals and more than half of them had above-normal plasma triglyceride and glucose levels or below-normal HDL levels. Based on these findings, the authors suggested that global CHD risk assessment is required to better classify individuals with the metabolic syndrome and adjust or reinforce treatment of these high-risk individuals accordingly.
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