Metabolic syndrome and diabetes

Abstract The metabolic syndrome (MetS) and even more so diabetes confer a significantly increased risk of cardiovascular disease. A multifactorial approach is required to improve the prognosis of patients with the MetS or diabetes. Glucose control is essential to reduce microvascular diabetes complications and, over long periods of time, may also lower the risk of cardiovascular events in patients with diabetes. As in other patient populations, lowering low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and treating arterial hypertension are paramount interventions to reduce cardiovascular event risk in patients with the MetS and diabetes. Most patients with diabetes must be considered at a very high risk of cardiovascular events, which qualifies them for low LDL cholesterol targets. Antiplatelet therapy is recommended for patients with the MetS or diabetes in secondary prevention; it may also be considered for primary prevention patients with diabetes who are at high or very high risk; it is not recommended for primary prevention in diabetes patients at moderate risk. Because the MetS or diabetes confers an extremely high risk of cardiovascular events once cardiovascular disease is established, it is extremely important to intervene early to prevent these patients from developing cardiovascular disease.