Although the individual components of the metabolic syndrome are clearly associated with
increased risk for coronary heart disease (CHD), we wanted to quantify the increased
prevalence of CHD among people with metabolic syndrome. The Third National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) was used to categorize adults over 50 years of
age by presence of metabolic syndrome (National Cholesterol Education Program [NCEP]
definition) with or without diabetes. Demographic and risk factor information was determined …