Metabolic syndrome is generally considered to be a combination of conditions that increases a patient's risk of developing coronary artery disease. These conditions include elevated blood pressure, obesity, insulin resistance, elevated C-reactive proteins and high triglycerides or HDL cholesterol. If a patient has three or more of these conditions, he or she is classified as having metabolic syndrome. But what is the clinical applicability of this "syndrome," and should practicing physicians still be using the metabolic syndrome concept? Dr. Gerald Reaven, active emeritus professor of medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, California, suggests that there are more reliable methods than the metabolic syndrome classification for determining a patient's risk of developing coronary artery disease. Dr. Maurice Pickard hosts.
