Obesity and the metabolic syndrome in patients with acute myocardial infarction.

The metabolic syndrome (MS) is a novel risk factor for coronary artery disease. The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) re-definition of MS lists obesity as the essential feature of MS. We determined the presence of MS by this obesity-centric definition in 107 consecutive patients with acute myocardial infarction. Our key findings were that there was a high prevalence of MS in this population (54%), driven by high rates of obesity, hypertension, new impaired fasting glucose and dyslipidemia. MS was more prevalent in this population than any other standard cardiac risk factor. However, despite the high prevalence, MS was under-recognized and under-treated in these patients.