Metabolic syndrome as a predictor of carotid atherosclerosis except when excluding hypertensive subjects from the study
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The aim of this study was to investigate whether metabolic syndrome was associated with carotid atherosclerosis in subjects without diabetes mellitus as based on the results of a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). To this end, 3904 subjects underwent general health screening including OGTT between 1994 and 2003. Among these, 3679 had a fasting plasma glucose <126 mg/dL, and 3488 a 2-h post-OGTT glucose value <200 mg/dL. Metabolic syndrome was found to be a risk factor for carotid plaque and intima-media thickening in men of both subgroups. After adjusting for age, it also tended to be a risk factor for carotid plaque incidence in women. However, among the subgroup of patients (n=2440) who had no diabetes and no hypertension (defined as systolic and diastolic blood pressure <140/90 mmHg and absence of any antihypertensive medication), the association between metabolic syndrome and carotid plaque or carotid intima-media thickening was not statistically significant, even after adjusting for age. In conclusion, after adjusting for age, metabolic syndrome was a predictor of carotid atherosclerosis in men who did not have impaired fasting glucose and/or impaired glucose tolerance, except when excluding hypertensive patients from the study.
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