ABSTRACT
Introduction The incidence of type 2 diabetes is increasing worldwide, projected to increase from a current prevalence of 150 million to 220 million by the year 2010 |1|. The rapid increase in type 2 diabetes is closely linked to an epidemic of obesity, which is an integral part of the metabolic syndrome |2|. Metabolic syndrome, now a recognized clinical entity, is characterized by insulin resistance, which is itself an important independent predictor of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in patients with and without type 2 diabetes |3,4|. Clarification of the diagnostic criteria, along with recent evidence, has led to an increased awareness of the importance of the metabolic syn drome in the aetiology of both type 2 diabetes and CVD.
