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Senior Health & Medicine
Obese Metabolic Syndrome Patients Lower Heart
Disease Risk 20 Percent
Multidisciplinary approach found by obesity
researchers
April 28, 2006 - Obesity researchers at the Medical
College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee found that a multidisciplinary
clinical approach to caring for obese patients with metabolic syndrome
(the presence of usually three or more factors, such as high blood
pressure, abdominal obesity, high triglyceride levels, low HDL levels,
and high fasting levels of blood sugar) could swiftly and significantly
lower their risk for heart disease.
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The research found that such care could lower their
ten-year risk for cardiovascular disease by nearly 20 percent within six
months. It will be presented in a poster session, at the American
Association of Clinical Endocrinologists Annual Meeting, in Chicago,
today.
About 47 million people have metabolic syndrome,
including 44 percent of older Americans who are age 50 and older.
The study was conducted by Safak Guven, M.D.,
assistant professor of medicine at the Medical College and clinical
director of the Obesity/Metabolic Syndrome Clinic at Froedtert Hospital,
a major teaching affiliate of the Medical College, in collaboration with
the University of Wisconsin School of Pharmacy.
"This study highlights the benefits of a clinic
that specializes in the needs of obese patients with metabolic syndrome"
says Dr. Guven. "Metabolic syndrome affects approximately 24 percent of
the US adult population; according to the Third National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey criteria.
Metabolic syndrome (without type 2 diabetes)
significantly increases the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD).
The research could also help establish national
clinical standards of care for metabolic syndrome, and accreditation for
clinics treating this rapidly emerging problem.
"Studies have shown that patients with metabolic
syndrome are 1.5 times at greater risk for CHD," says Dr. Guven. "On the
other hand, women in reproductive ages with metabolic syndrome are prone
to have polycystic ovarian syndrome, which also puts them at risk for
fertility issues. In other words, your waistline now has a significant
impact on your lifeline."
Metabolic syndrome is a dangerous constellation of
problems occurring in abdominally obese, insulin-resistant patients,
with or without type 2 diabetes, and having any of several conditions,
including cholesterol abnormalities, hypertension, clotting, or
inflammatory protein factors in their blood. This leaves them extremely
vulnerable to cardiovascular diseases caused by plaque deposits. These
include coronary and/or peripheral artery disease and strokes.
The team reviewed charts of over 480 patients
treated in the recently-developed obesity and metabolic syndrome clinic
at Froedtert Hospital and found 46 obese patients who met the criteria
for the study.
Outcomes data on these patients revealed that,
after six months of treatment, their collective body mass index dropped
4.4 percent, their waist size 4.3 percent, their triglycerides (harmful
fatty acids) dropped 13.1 percent and their HDL (beneficial) cholesterol
level rose 6.2 percent.
As a result, their ten-year risk of developing
cardiovascular disease, based on scoring criteria established by the
National Heart Lung and Blood Institutes' landmark Framingham Heart
Study,* was reduced by 19.5 percent.
About the study:
The metabolic syndrome clinic team includes an
endocrinologist, dietitians, a psychologist, diabetes educators,
clinical pharmacist, exercise physiologists and physical therapists.
These patients also had access to bariatric
surgery, sleep center, and obstetrics and gynecology fertility clinic
for evaluations when appropriate. They were also eligible to participate
in a support group, provided in collaboration with TOPS (Take off Pounds
Sensibly) - a non-profit, non-commercial weight loss support group
(see link below story).
* Since 1948, this study has followed over 5,100
men and women from Framingham, Mass. and their descendants through the
second and third generations, to identify the common factors or
characteristics that contribute to cardiovascular disease.
Links:
This is a link to the non-profit weight loss
support group (TOPS – Take Off Pounds Sensibly) referred to in
the study –
click here.
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