A truce has been called by two leading health organizations in the battle over the clinical relevance of the metabolic syndrome.
The American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association had been at odds with each other over what has become known as the metabolic syndrome.
The metabolic syndrome is a clustering of risk factors (prediabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and obesity) some believe foretell increased risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
The American Heart Association has advocated diagnosis and aggressive treatment of the syndrome's elements to avoid or delay the onset of cardiovascular disease. The American Diabetes Association leadership argued that concentrating on the metabolic syndrome, which they believed is poorly defined, could mislead physicians to treat the syndrome and not cardiovascular disease and diabetes (Mitka M. JAMA. 2005;294:2010-2011).
But in a joint statement issued June 26, the two groups agreed to set aside their differences to present a . . . [Full Text of this Article]