Oxidative stress and metabolic syndrome.

Dear Editor,

Sir, the recent report on oxidative stress and metabolic syndrome is very interesting.1) Chung et al.1) concluded that 'high hs-CRP, the presence of metabolic syndrome, and female gender were associated with high oxidative stress.' The correlation may be due to several factors. Recently, Limberg et al.2) noted that 'oxidative stress influences vascular responsiveness.' Nevertheless, it should be noted that there are many disorders that can lead to high oxidative stress and those disorders might not directly relate to metabolic syndrome. For example, a cancerous patient can have high oxidative stress,3) but such patients are usually thin, not obese. Another example is patients with underlying hemoglobinopathy, who can also present with high oxidative stress.4) The patient might simply be anemic, without metabolic syndrome.

Yours Sincerely