A group of investigators led by Dr Graziella Bruno of the University of Turin, Italy, evaluated the metabolic syndrome as a predictor of mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes. A total of 1,565 patients were followed with regular examinations for 11 years (1991-2001). The metabolic syndrome was defined according to the World Health Organization definition. A multivariate Cox proportional hazards model was used to assess the value of the metabolic syndrome as an independent predictor of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality.

The investigators found that the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome was 75.6% (95% CI 73.6-77.9). Of the 685 deaths that occurred during 10,890 patient-years of observation, 520 were patients with the metabolic syndrome. The risk of cardiovascular mortality was similar in patients with and without the metabolic syndrome, after adjusting for age, sex, smoking status, total cholesterol level, and coronary heart disease. Patients with only 1 component of the metabolic syndrome had a more than 2-fold higher risk of cardiovascular mortality than those with diabetes only (hazard ratio 2.92 [1.16-7.33]).

The investigators concluded that, for patients with type 2 diabetes, the metabolic syndrome was not a predictor of all-cause or cardiovascular mortality and did not provide further predictive value, compared with its individual components.

Source: Diabetes In Control.com: Diabetes Care 2004;27:2689-94.