The metabolic syndrome and its relationship to hypertensive target organ damage.

High blood pressure is often associated with various metabolic abnormalities, including abdominal obesity, dyslipidemia, elevated plasma glucose, and insulin resistance, which are the main features of the metabolic syndrome. The metabolic syndrome is extremely common worldwide. This high prevalence is of considerable concern because several studies suggest that the metabolic syndrome carries an increased risk for cardiovascular events. Several lines of evidence seem to indicate that the metabolic syndrome is associated with an increased prevalence of preclinical cardiovascular and renal changes, such as left ventricular hypertrophy, microalbuminuria, impaired aortic elasticity, and early carotid atherosclerosis, most of which are recognized as significant independent predictors of adverse cardiovascular outcomes. It is conceivable that these data may partly explain the high rates of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality that are observed in patients with the metabolic syndrome.