ABSTRACT
The past several years have witnessed a veritable frenzy of activity focused on a diagnostic category designated as the metabolic syndrome (MetS). At least three different sets of criteria have been published with which to make this diagnosis (1-3), and literally hundreds of papers have been published in the past few years using these definitions to describe the prevalence of the MetS in an almost infinite number of different populations and/or their relative ability to identify person at risk to develop cardiovascular disease (CVD) or type 2 diabetes mellitus (2DM) (4). Despite this publication onslaught, questions have been raised as to both the pedagogical utility of the various definitions, as well as the clinical relevance of deciding whether or not an individual meets the diagnostic criteria for the MetS (4-7). The goal of this presentation will be to address both of these issues.
