Clustering of individual components of the metabolic syndrome (MS), the association of MS with cardiovascular disease (CVD), and the increasing prevalence of MS with age are not disputed, but the best definition, and indeed the overall significance, of MS remain highly controversial.
Diabetes is a serious chronic disease with a prevalence of 9.3% in adults aged 20– 79 years, and the global projection shows an increase of more than 50% in the next 25 years in the USA. People with diabetes have two to three times higher probability of developing cardiovascular disease and death compared with individuals without diabetes. The life expectancy is reduced to 6–7 years in people with diabetes over 40 years of age, and this reduction is doubled in patients with established cardiovascular disease.