Metabolic Syndrome as a Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factor: Patients Evaluated in Primary Care

Joan-Josep Cabré¹ , Francisco Martín¹ , Bernardo Costa² , Josep L Piñol⁶ , Josep L Llor³ , Yolanda Ortega⁴ , Josep Basora⁶ , Marta Baldrich¹ , Rosa Solà⁷ , Jordi Daniel⁶ , Josep Ma Hernández¹ , Judit Saumell⁴ , Jordi Bladé⁶ , Ramon Sagarra¹ , Teresa Basora⁶ , Dolors Montañés¹ , Joan L Frigola¹ , Angel Donado-Mazarrón² , Maria Teresa García-Vidal⁴ , Isabel Sánchez-Oro² , Josep M de Magriñà⁴ , Ana Urbaneja⁵ , Francisco Barrio² , Jesús Vizcaíno¹ , Josep M Sabaté¹ , Irene Pascual¹ and Vanesa Revuelta¹

¹ABS Reus-1, Camí de Riudoms, 53–55, 43202 Reus, Spain

²ABS Reus-2, Camí de Riudoms 53–55, 43202 Reus, Spain

³ABS Deltebre, Avinguda Esportiva, 164, 43580 Deltebre, Spain

⁴ABS Reus-4, General Moragues 52, 43201 Reus, Spain

⁵ABS Reus-3, General Moragues 52, 43201 Reus, Spain

⁶Reus-Altebrat Primary Care Service, Spain

⁷Medicine Faculty, Rovira i Virgili University, Sant Llorenç 11, 43202 Reus, Spain

author email corresponding author email

BMC Public Health 2008, 8:251doi:10.1186/1471-2458-8-251


Published:	22 July 2008

Abstract

To estimate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) in a population receiving attention in primary care centers (PCC) we selected a random cohort of ostensibly normal subjects from the registers of 5 basic-health area (BHA) PCC. Diagnosis of MS was with the WHO, NCEP and IDF criteria. Variables recorded were: socio-demographic data, CVD risk factors including lipids, obesity, diabetes, blood pressure and smoking habit and a glucose tolerance test outcome. Of the 720 individuals selected (age 60.3 ± 11.5 years), 431 were female, 352 hypertensive, 142 diabetic, 233 pre-diabetic, 285 obese, 209 dyslipemic and 106 smokers. CVD risk according to the Framingham and REGICOR calculation was 13.8 ± 10% and 8.8 ± 9.8%, respectively. Using the WHO, NCEP and IDF criteria, MS was diagnosed in 166, 210 and 252 subjects, respectively and the relative risk of CVD complications in MS subjects was 2.56. Logistic regression analysis indicated that the MS components (WHO set), the MS components (IDF set) and the female gender had an increased odds ratio for CVD of 3.48 (95CI%: 2.26–5.37), 2.28 (95%CI: 1.84–4.90) and 2.26 (95%CI: 1.48–3.47), respectively. We conclude that MS and concomitant CVD risk is high in ostensibly normal population attending primary care clinics, and this would necessarily impinge on resource allocation in primary care.