Metabolic syndrome: implications of race and ethnicity

Many of the studies evaluating implications of the metabolic syndrome have not looked specifically at varied ethnic groups to compare and contrast the effects of ethnicity on the metabolic syndrome. Most of the data regarding ethnicity comes from cross sectional studies of national data bases such as NHANES. Other studies seem to have lower numbers of ethnic groups other than Caucasians. For clinical practice, most of the data may be extrapolated until data from randomized prospective trials are available. Certainly it would appear that many of the cardiovascular implications persist when adjusted for race. Lifestyle changes such as diet and physical activity may be universally recommended for all persons at risk, regardless of ethnicity and, where necessary, pharmacological interventions may be used.