Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease Presenting to a Tertiary Care Hospital

Background: Metabolic syndrome (MS) is represented by a cluster of risk factors associated with insulin resistance, subclinical inflammation, increased future risk of diabetes, and coronary artery disease (CAD). Hence the present study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its components in patients with CAD. Method: In this crosssectional study, a total 250 patients of either sex, age between 28-82 years diagnosed with CAD by medical, clinical and angiography findings were studied over a period of 6 month. MS components were defined according to the modified Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP III) criteria. Results: The metabolic syndrome was present in 50.8 % of patients and was more frequent in women than in men (56.69 % vs.43.30 %; P less than.005). The prevalence increased with age. Low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (85.3 %), high fasting blood glucose (FBG) (78.8 %) and high waist circumference (WC) (76.3 %) were the most prevalent risk factors in CAD patients with MS as compared to those without MS. Conclusion: The present study clearly indicates a high prevalence of MS in patients with CAD and significantly higher prevalence in women than in men. The three components of MS including low HDL-C, high blood glucose and abdominal obesity were the strongest predictors of CAD but additional studies are required to clarify the results.