Ch. 13 - Metabolic Syndrome

Provide the cutoffs for categorizing blood pressure as "normal", "elevated", and "stage 1 hypertension."

- Normal blood pressure has a systolic BP that is less than 120 mmHg and a diastolic BP of less than 80 mmHg - Elevated blood pressure has a systolic BP of 120 to 129 mmHg and a diastolic BP of less than 80 mmHg - Stage 1 hypertension has a systolic BP of 130 to 139 mmHg or diastolic BP of 80 to 89 mmHg.

How is diabetes diagnosed? What are the risk factors for experiencing diabetes?

All types of diabetes are diagnosed with blood tests using several well-established clinical techniques. In addition, the risk factors for experiencing diabetes are age (generally being 45 years or older), family history (having a parent or sibling with T2D), race or ethnicity (African Americans, Hispanics and Latinos, American Indians, Pacific Islanders and some Americans at higher risk), being overweight (having a high BMI), physical activity (being PA fewer than 3 times per week, gestational diabetes and polycystic ovary syndrome.

Define and describe the underlying processes associated with diabetes (i.e. hyperglycemia), as well as, the four different types of diabetes.

Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs when the pancreas cannot make the hormone insulin or when the insulin the body produces does not work very well. When insulin is not available or cannot be used effectively, glucose cannot enter cells, so glucose begins to build up in the blood. This condition is called hyperglycemia (high blood sugar). There are four different types of diabetes: prediabetes, type 1, type 2 and gestational.

Define hypertension and describe what occurs during systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure in terms of the cardiovascular system.

Hypertension is the medical term used to describe chronically elevated resting blood pressure. Systolic: Pressure exerted against the arteries during heart contraction (upper number) Diastolic: Pressure exerted against the arteries during relaxation (lower number)

Why should individuals care about metabolic syndrome?

If you have a number of metabolic risk factors, then your chances of developing one of the Big Metabolic Three (type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, certain types of cancer) increases significantly.

What is measured in a blood lipid profile?

In a blood lipid profile (a simple blood test), measurements are provided to help assess one's risk for cardiovascular disease. It includes total cholesterol, high density-lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) or "good cholesterol," low density-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) or "bad cholesterol," and triglycerides.

Why is important to understand what leads to cardiovascular disease?

It is very important to understand what leads to cardiovascular disease as it is the largest cause of death worldwide for the past several decades.

What lifestyle behaviors can modify one's risk for hyperlipidemia?

Lifestyle changes such as weight management, diet quality, regular physical activity and exercise and smoking.

What is the relationship between chronic low-level systematic inflammation and chronic disease? How is it detected?

Low-level systematic inflammation can simmer for years, contributing to a range of chronic conditions, including T2D, CVD and some cancers. To detect this silent inflammation, physicians might measure levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) or other markers in the blood.

Define metabolic syndrome and describe the underlying risk factors used to diagnose the syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome can be thought of as the clustering of biological factors that raise you risk for other chronic conditions, especially diabetes and cardiovascular disease. To be diagnosed with MetS, a person has to have central obesity (defined by a high waist circumference based on ethnicity-specific values) plus two of the four other factors, which include unhealthy blood lipids, high blood pressure and high blood glucose

Cardiovascular disease risk factors can be broken into two categories: non-modifiable and modifiable. Provide a list of both types of risk factors.

Non-modifiable risk factors of cardiovascular disease (CVD) are age, sex, family history and race or ethnicity. Modifiable risk factors are overweight and obesity, Mets, prediabetes and type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Describe the major forms of cardiovascular disease (CVD)

The major forms of cardiovascular disease (CVD) are coronary artery (heart) disease and stroke.

Provide the primary conditions that often co-occur (i.e. comorbidities) with long-term diabetes.

The primary conditions that often co-occur with long-term diabetes are cardiovascular disease, eye complications, kidney disease, neuropathy and skin changes.

What lifestyle behaviors can modify one's risk for hypertension?

Various lifestyle behaviors can modify one's risk for hypertension including weight management, diet quality, regular physical activity and exercise, and stress.

What type of lifestyle behaviors can treat prediabetes and Type 2 Diabetes?

Weight loss, regular physical activity, diet quality and medications.

List the four ways in which you can prevent CVD early in life.

You can prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD) early in life by not smoking, eating clean and balanced diets (most of the time), having high levels of physical (especially cardiorespiratory exercise of a moderate to vigorous intensity) and managing your waistline.

Explain what hypercholesterolemia is, as well, as hyperlipidemia.

Your body needs some cholesterol to function; however, too much cholesterol in your blood is called hypercholesterolemia, which can accelerate the atherosclerosis process. Hyperlipidemia is the medical term for when your blood has too many lipids (fats), which includes cholesterol and triglycerides.