Metabolic syndrome following liver transplantation is associated with major vascular events

✍ Scribed by Suthat Liangpunsakul; Naga P. Chalasani

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 57 KB
• Volume: 13
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1527-6465
• DOI: 10.1002/lt.21096

✦ Synopsis

Metabolic syndrome is a constellation of several variables associated with insulin resistance, and its presence in an individual signifies dramatically increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. 1 Although there are several definitions for metabolic syndrome, the Adult Treatment Panel III criteria are the most widely used; they require the presence of 3 or more of the following variables: waist circumference Ͼ102 cm in men or Ͼ88 cm in women; fasting serum triglycerides Ͼ150 mg/dL; blood pressure Ͼ130/85 mM Hg; high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol Ͻ40 mg/dL in men or Ͻ50 mg/dL in women; and fasting serum glucose Ͼ110 mg/dL. According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2000, the age-adjusted prevalence of metabolic syndrome in the United States is 27%, and it depends on the age, gender, and ethnicity of the population studied. 2 It is well known that solid-organ transplant recipients have high incidence of obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and dyslipidemia. 3 However, data are sparse that examined the prevalence and significance of metabolic syndrome in individuals who have successfully undergone liver transplantation. The report by Laryea et al. 4 in this issue of Liver Transplantation begins to provide answers to these important questions, as they report the prevalence and significance of metabolic syndrome in 118 adult liver transplant recipients who had minimum 18 months of posttransplantation follow-up. Compared to pretransplantation, the authors report that there was a significantly higher prevalence of hypertension (10% pre to 62% post), dyslipidemia (3% pre