New Delhi. Forty percent of adults over age 40 have metabolic syndrome, a constellation of obesity leading to dyslipidemia, hypertension, and insulin resistance and, thus a 10-year risk of a first heart attack event of about 17 percent. All patents with metabolic syndrome should be considered for aspirin prophylaxis. This was stated by Dr KK Aggarwal, President Heart Care Foundation of India.

Current criteria define the metabolic syndrome as the presence of any three of the following five traits:

Abdominal obesity, defined as a waist circumference in men >35 inches and in women >32 inches.

Serum triglycerides 150 mg/dL or drug treatment for elevated triglycerides

Serum HDL cholesterol <40 mg/dL in men and <50 mg/dL in women or drug treatment for low HDL-C

Blood pressure 130/85 mmHg or drug treatment for elevated blood pressure

Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) 110 mg/dL or drug treatment for elevated blood glucose.

Metabolic syndrome is an important risk factor for subsequent development of type 2 diabetes and/or CVD.

Thus, the key clinical implication of a diagnosis of metabolic syndrome is identification of a patient who needs aggressive lifestyle modification focused on weight reduction and increased physical activity.