20 May Prevalence of US Adults With Metabolic Syndrome Stabilizing But Still High
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Robert Wong, M.D., M.S.
Attending Physician, Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Director, GI Research
Highland Hospital I A member of Alameda Health System
Oakland, CA 94602
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Wong: The main findings are that despite the stabilizing prevalence of metabolic syndrome, a large proportion of U.S. adults affected with metabolic still raises concern, especially given the significant health consequences associated with this syndrome. In additional to cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome also increases the risk of concurrent nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, often considered the hepatic manifestation of metabolic syndrome. Many studies, including work that our group has completed suggests that nonalcoholic fatty liver disease will soon become the leading etiology of chronic liver disease in the U.S. Furthermore, our finding that metabolic syndrome increases with increasing age, reflects the increased risk for metabolic syndrome associated diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia with older age. This is important to recognize given the aging population of the U.S.
Medical Research: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?
Dr. Wong: The main take away points are that while metabolic syndrome prevalence seems to have stabilized, the population affected is still significant. Furthermore, the increasing prevalence among older adults is especially concerning given the aging U.S. adult population. Better recognition of metabolic syndrome will be helpful in better targeting interventions to aggressively treat risk factors such as insulin resistance, hypertension, and dyslipidemia.
Medical Research: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?
Dr. Wong: Further research should focus on better understanding the long term consequences of metabolic syndrome, and to develop multidisciplinary programs to more effective treat risk factors to reduce long term risks associated with this syndrome. Furthermore, more research is needed to better elucidate and explore the pathogenesis and biological mechanisms that underlie the sex-specific and race/ethnicity-specific differences in the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and associated disease states.
Citation:
[wysija_form id=”3″]
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Robert Wong, M.D., M.S. Attending Physician, Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Director, GI Research, Highland Hospital I A member of Alameda Health System, & Oakland, CA 94602 (2015). Prevalence of US Adults With Metabolic Syndrome Stabilizing But Still High
Last Updated on May 20, 2015 by Marie Benz MD FAAD