Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) leads to chronic inflammation throughout the body. The inflammation manifests as slow, progressive development of aches and pain, high blood pressure, and high blood sugar. Many people will blame aging and heredity for those symptoms and are unaware that it can be reversed. The article, The Metabolic Syndrome, gives a short description and guide on how to know if someone has MetS.
Having MetS can put you at risk for many diseases throughout the body. There are not many resources on the internet that list the association of MetS with other conditions except for professional publications. This is a multi-part series that attempts to enumerate the diseases associated with MetS. Initially, I started with the top ten, but the more I researched, the more illnesses show up. This explains why emergency departments, hospitals, and clinics are packed and congested and why medical insurance premiums are skyrocketing.
Ischemic Heart disease and strokes are the most common complications or terminal manifestations of metabolic syndrome. They are the number one and two most common cause of death globally in 2016.
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The chart below is the Top Ten Causes of Deaths in the US for 2016 – 2017
High mortality diseases associated with metabolic syndrome
- Ischemic heart disease or heart attacks.
- Strokes (cerebrovascular accidents, CVA).
- Chronic lung disease like Emphysema and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and pneumonia are discussed in Part 2 in detail.
- Type 2 diabetes, also known as the following names: T2DM, Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (NIDDM), Adult Onset Diabetes or Diabetes related to lifestyle.
The metabolic syndrome causes damage to the body in different ways. It slowly destroys the blood vessels, ultimately cutting off the supply to an organ leading to a decrease or loss in function as in a heart attack or stroke.
MetS decreases the body’s defense against precancerous cells and allows cancer development. Furthermore, the high blood sugar supplies a lot of food to the cancer cells.
MetS can quickly progress to Type 2 Diabetes. Type 2 diabetics have a lower resistance to infections and have a higher complication and death rates compared to nondiabetics. Some cases included in the deaths related to diarrhea, pneumonia, and influenza may have underlying diabetes. This article, If you know somebody 54 and above, Read This,. Discusses how a Death Certificate is written. The most common cause of chronic renal failure is diabetes.
You can see from the Top Ten Causes of Deaths in the world, only Road Injury and Tuberculosis is not directly related to MetS. For the United States Top Ten Causes of deaths, eight out of ten are directly associated with MetS. The only two conditions not related to MetS are Unintentional Injuries and Suicide.
Thereby, prevention, early detection, and reversal of MetS are essential to avoid at least prematurely, being part of the top ten causes of deaths.
A diagnosis of any disease related to the Metabolic Syndrome should prompt an investigation if you are at risk of developing ischemic heart disease. Talk to your doctor if there is a need to do a fasting blood sugar, serum triglyceride, and HDL level, check your blood pressure, and measure your waistline. Review The Metabolic Syndrome, and find out if you have MetS.
In Part 2, We will talk about the association of Metabolic Syndrome with some disease conditions of the Pulmonary System.
References:
Iqbal J, Al Qarni A, Hawwari A, Alghanem AF, Ahmed G1. Metabolic Syndrome, Dyslipidemia, and Regulation of Lipoprotein Metabolism. Curr Diabetes Rev. 2018;14(5):427-433. doi: 10.2174/1573399813666170705161039.
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