Stratification of Metabolic Syndrome
The metabolic syndrome is a cluster of risk factors in one person that promotes or increases the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Estimates of the prevalence of metabolic syndrome vary, but run as high as one-third of the adult population in developed countries. Stratification refers to the use of molecular diagnostic techniques to predict and prevent cardiovascular disease in persons with a genetic predisposition.
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Stratified medicine
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Stratified medicine seeks to use molecular diagnostic testing to manage groups of patients with shared biological characteristics. Molecular testing is the use of data gathered from the nearly 30,000 genes identified in the human genome. A genome is the entire complement of genetic information inherited by a specific organism.
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Proscriptive tests
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The goal of stratified medicine is proscription, preventing disease, rather than prescription, treating disease.
An estimated five percent of the 30,000 human genes are believed to have the potential of predicting disease. Supporters of molecular diagnosis predict the eventual commercial development of upwards of 1,500 gene-based tests. The goal of these tests is to develop the best treatment of patients with identified risk factors.
Metabolic syndrome
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The metabolic syndrome is a cluster of risk factors in one person that known to promote or increase the risk for development of cardiovascular disease.
The greatest risk for developing heart disease is diabetes, but the syndrome contains other risk factors.
The metabolic syndrome risk factors include:
• Excessive abdominal fat.
• High blood pressure
• High blood fats that often result in the build-up of plaque in heart walls.
• Resistance to insulin and increased levels of glucose in the blood.
• Increased amounts of fibrinogen, a protein that is essential for blood to coagulate.
• High levels of C-reactive protein that accompanies inflammation in the blood.
Having one of these risks means you're more likely to have or develop metabolic syndrome. The more risks you have, the greater the probably that you will develop cardiovascular disease.
The current first-line therapy for managing the risk factors of those who have the metabolic syndrome is to stop smoking, reduce blood pressure and LDL cholesterol, maintain glucose levels to recommended levels and exercise.
Stratification of metabolic syndrome
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The stratification of metabolic syndrome means that researchers are attempting to identify specific molecules that predict the development of these cardiovascular risk factors in one person. If ongoing research is successful, then therapies and medicines might be developed that can assist those persons whose health is now at risk.
Non-molecular test
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Perhaps the best known non-molecular test for genetic risk factors is the Framingham calculator. This test for inherited genetic and other risk factors is based on a study that began in Framingham, Massachusetts, in 1948. Researchers have tracked the health of three generations of descendants of the original 5,209 male and female subjects, resulting in more than 1,200 articles in medical research journals.
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- Photo Credit Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Lauren Nelson
