The metabolic syndrome is one of the major public health issues of our time. The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) believes that this cluster of factors is driving the twin global epidemics of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. If current trends continue, the premature deaths and disabilities resulting from these conditions will cripple the health budgets of many nations – both developed and developing. People with the metabolic syndrome have three times the risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke – and twice the risk of dying from such an event – compared with people without the syndrome. The authors explain the reasoning behind the new IDF definition of the metabolic syndrome, which many commentators have labelled ‘the world’s latest epidemic’.
metabolic syndrome, central obesity, worldwide definition, ethnicity, waist circumference, consensus