Summary

The metabolic syndrome (MetS) refers to a cluster of metabolic abnormalities that are caused by insulin resistance, which is often associated with intra-abdominal (visceral) obesity, a high-risk form of being overweight/obesity. Cardiometabolic risk encompasses overall cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk that results from traditional risk factors (age, sex, smoking, hypertension, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, diabetes) and from the additional risks of intra-abdominal obesity and related features of the MetS. Questions remain about the clinical implications of MetS and whether MetS contributes to global CVD risk. These issues were the focus of a special symposium that was organized by the International Chair on Cardiometabolic Risk at the 15th International Symposium on Atherosclerosis 2009 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.