UCC study: One in five people aged between 50 and 70 in the Republic has a syndrome that puts them at high risk of developing diabetes and coronary disease, new research has shown.
A survey of almost 1,500 people living in the Munster area has found that 21 per cent of 50 to 70 year-olds fulfil the criteria for the metabolic syndrome, a collection of physical characteristics and biological markers that put a person at risk of heart attack, stroke and diabetes.
Carried out by researchers at the Department of Epidemiology at University College Cork (UCC), the study found that 75 per cent of those surveyed were clinically obese. Some 47 per cent had high blood pressure, while almost 30 per cent had abnormal lipid levels in their blood.
While the overall prevalence of the metabolic syndrome was 21 per cent, it was higher in men (25 per cent) than women (18 per cent) and it increased with age.
The metabolic syndrome includes high blood pressure, high levels of triglyceride (lipid) in the blood and an intolerance of glucose and central obesity (collection of fat in the abdominal area). A western lifestyle, with its high prevalence of obesity and physical inactivity, is believed to be central to the development of the metabolic syndrome.
Researchers found an especially strong link between the syndrome and those with the lowest level of physical activity. This association was independent of age or sex. The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome was twice as high in former drinkers compared with those who occasionally drank alcohol. No link was found with current smoking habits.
"These findings reflect the extremely high prevalence of obesity in this population [ of 50 - 70 year olds]," the researchers state. "There is a need for greater awareness of the metabolic syndrome in clinical practice to provide a focus for counselling on weight loss and exercise combined with appropriate pharmacological intervention."
Commenting on his findings published in the current edition of the Irish Medical Journal, Prof Ivan Perry, professor of epidemiology and public health at UCC, said: "This paper provides a very clear indication of the practical and clinical consequences of the obesity epidemic. The high prevalence of the metabolic syndrome is a clinical manifestation of obesity and physical inactivity in an Irish population. We have been used to thinking of Type 2 diabetes mellitus and coronary heart disease separately, but the metabolic syndrome is the common soil from which the epidemics of both type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease emerge."
Prof Perry said the solution to the problem would not be purely a clinical one but would require broadly based plans to reduce obesity and to increase physical activity levels. He said he "awaited with interest what proposals will emerge from the Government's obesity task force".
Sources close to the taskforce said it was progressing well and expected to complete its deliberations in the coming months.