Background: Even though the presence of metabolic syndrome has been reported to increase risk of target organ damage in hypertensive patients, the prevalence and the combined effect of metabolic syndrome on these population has yet to been fully investigated. Therefore, we investigated the prevalence and the clinical characteristics of metabolic syndrome in hypertensive patients.
Method: Data from the first to third Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES)
performed in 1998-2005 were analyzed. Metabolic syndrome is defined by the 2001 NCEP-ATP III guideline, and hypertension is defined following the JNC-7 guideline.
Results: The estimated age-adjusted prevalence of metabolic syndrome in Koreans with prehypertension and hypertension are estimated to be 26.2% and 53.3%, which are significantly higher than that of the general population, estimated as 24.1%. In blood pressure profiles, isolated systolic hypertension is more frequently observed in hypertensive patients with metabolic syndrome. Presence of metabolic syndrome in hypertensive population is also associated with increased prevalence of proteinuria.
Conclusion: Metabolic syndrome in the hypertensive population is still increasing despite decreasing prevalence of hypertension as well as of metabolic syndrome in the overall population. Presence of metabolic syndrome in hypertensive patients implies different clinical characteristics as well as prognosis