MILWAUKEE, April 28 (UPI) -- A multidisciplinary clinical approach to caring for obese patients with metabolic syndrome could lower their heart-disease risk, say U.S. researchers.
Researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee found that such care could lower their 10-year risk for cardiovascular disease by nearly 20 percent within six months.
"This study highlights the benefits of a clinic that specializes in the needs of obese patients with metabolic syndrome" says Dr. Safak Guven, clinical director of the Obesity/Metabolic Syndrome Clinic at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee.
"Metabolic syndrome affects approximately 24 percent of the U.S. adult population; according to the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey criteria. Metabolic syndrome -- without type 2 diabetes -- significantly increases the risk of coronary heart disease."
Metabolic syndrome occurs in abdominally obese, insulin-resistant patients, with or without type 2 diabetes, and having any of several conditions, including: cholesterol abnormalities, hypertension, clotting, or inflammatory protein factors in their blood.
Guven presented the findings at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists Annual Meeting in Chicago.
