An evaluation of the metabolic syndrome in the HyperGEN study

The prevalence of the c-MetS was 34% in Blacks and 39% in Whites. c-MetS showed predominance of obesity, hypertension, and dyslipidemia. Three and four factor domains were identified through FA, classified as "Obesity," "Blood pressure," "Lipids," and "Central obesity." They explained approximately 60% of the variance in the 11 original variables. Two factors classified as "Obesity" and "Central Obesity" overlapped when FA was performed without rotation. All four factors in FA with Varimax rotation were consistent between Blacks and Whites, between genders and also after excluding type 2 diabetes (T2D) participants. Fasting insulin (INS) associated mainly with obesity and lipids factors.MetS in the HyperGEN study has a compound phenotype with separate domains for obesity, blood pressure, and lipids. Obesity and its relationship to lipids and insulin is clearly the dominant factor in MetS. Linkage analysis on factor scores for components of MetS, in familial studies such as HyperGEN, can assist in understanding the genetic pathways for MetS and their interactions with the environment, as a first step in identifying the underlying pathophysiological causes of this syndrome.Metabolic and physiologic disorders for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes (T2D), including abdominal obesity, insulin resistance, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, and hypertension often cluster. This cluster is frequently identified as the "metabolic syndrome" (MetS). Reaven [1] related MetS to the presence of resistance to insulin-mediated glucose disposal, glucose intolerance, hyperinsulinemia, increased triglycerides, decreased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and hypertension. Later, the definition of MetS was extended to include obesity, inflammation, microalbuminuria, and abnormalities of fibrinolysis and of coagulation [2-4]. Clearly, insulin resistance is not considered equivalent to MetS [5,6]. Grundy et al. [7], at a recent National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)