Abstract

OBJECTIVE—The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) has recently established a worldwide consensus definition of the metabolic syndrome. No prospective data are available on the cardiovascular risk associated with this new metabolic syndrome definition.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—In a prospective study of 750 coronary patients, we recorded vascular events over 4 years.

RESULTS—From our patients, 37.3% (n = 280) had the metabolic syndrome according to the Adult Treatment Panel III (ATPIII) definition and 45.5% (n = 341) according to the IDF definition. The metabolic syndrome as defined by the ATPIII criteria significantly predicted vascular events (adjusted hazard ratio 1.745 [95% CI 1.255–2.427]; P = 0.001), but the metabolic syndrome as defined by IDF criteria did not (1.189 [0.859–1.646]; P = 0.297). Accordingly, event-free survival was significantly lower among patients who fulfilled the ATPIII but not the IDF criteria than among those who met the IDF but not the ATPIII criteria (P = 0.012). The metabolic syndrome as defined by ATPIII criteria remained significantly predictive of vascular events after adjustment for type 2 diabetes but not after additional adjustment for the metabolic syndrome components high triglycerides and low HDL cholesterol. These lipid traits in turn proved significantly predictive of vascular events even after adjustment for the metabolic syndrome.

CONCLUSIONS—The ATPIII definition of the metabolic syndrome confers a significantly higher risk of vascular events than the IDF definition. However, among angiographied coronary patients, even the ATPIII definition of the metabolic syndrome does not provide prognostic information beyond its dyslipidemic features.