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Posted on Jun 04, 2005, 8 a.m.
By Bill Freeman
People with metabolic syndrome -- a constellation of risk factors for heart disease -- and moderate levels of calcium in their coronary arteries are at increased risk of developing blockages in those arteries, researchers report. Metabolic syndrome is defined as having at least three of the following disorders at the same time: abdominal obesity, high blood sugar, abnormal cholesterol levels and high blood pressure.
People with metabolic syndrome -- a constellation of risk factors for heart disease -- and moderate levels of calcium in their coronary arteries are at increased risk of developing blockages in those arteries, researchers report.
Metabolic syndrome is defined as having at least three of the following disorders at the same time: abdominal obesity, high blood sugar, abnormal cholesterol levels and high blood pressure. About 40 percent of adults in the United States have metabolic syndrome, which can lead to diabetes and accelerated heart disease.
Published in the June issue of the journal Diabetes Care, the study of more than 1,000 patients found that analyzing a person's metabolic profile in relation to their coronary calcium levels can help identify those who need a stress imaging test in order to determine proper treatment.
"Metabolic syndrome is very similar to diabetes in accelerating heart disease," study senior author Dr. Daniel Berman, director of cardiac imaging at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said in a prepared statement.
"Importantly, our findings reveal that patients with the metabolic syndrome who had only moderate amounts of calcium in their coronary arteries had a significantly greater chance of having ischemia -- too little blood flow to the heart -- during a stress test," Berman said.
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