Recovering from metabolic syndrome significantly reduces risk for cardiovascular disease

It is known that metabolic syndrome (high blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess abdominal fat, high triglyceride level, and/or unhealthy cholesterol levels) is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. When patients with metabolic syndrome reverse the syndrome, this risk decreases. Findings from a nationwide population-based cohort study are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Metabolic syndrome is a group of five risk factors that increase the likelihood of developing heart disease and stroke. There is a lack of population-scale evidence showing whether there is an association between dynamic changes in metabolic syndrome status and alterations in the risk for cardiovascular disease.

Researchers from Seoul National University College of Medicine analyzed data from the National Health Insurance Database of Korea to investigate whether recovery from or development of metabolic syndrome in a population is associated with an altered risk for cardiovascular disease. A total of 9,553,042 persons who received national health screenings from 2009 to 2014 were studied. Study participants were divided into four groups depending on their metabolic syndrome status during three consecutive general health examinations: 1) those who chronically remained in metabolic syndrome state; 2) those with newly developed metabolic syndrome; 3) those who recovered from metabolic syndrome; 4) and those who remained free of metabolic syndrome. The researchers compared the risks for developing cardiovascular diseases or strokes among these four groups and found that those who recovered from metabolic syndrome had a lower risk for cardiovascular disease compared with those who remained in the metabolic syndrome state. On the other hand, participants with newly developed metabolic syndrome had significantly higher risk for cardiovascular disease than those who remained free of the condition According to the authors, these findings suggest that efforts to prevent the development of or seek recovery from metabolic syndrome will help to reduce risk for cardiovascular disease.