Izet Aganović, Tina Du�ek
Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, University Hospital Center Zagreb, Croatia

1.1 Introduction
The metabolic syndrome is a constellation of interrelated abnormalities (namely obesity, dyslipidaemia, hyperglycaemia, and hypertension) that increase the risk for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. This is a common metabolic disorder which increases in prevalence as the population becomes more obese. The disorder is defined in various ways. Diagnostic criteria for the metabolic syndrome have been establish by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1998, by the National Cholesterol Education Program's Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP: ATP III), in 2001, and more recently by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), in 2005. The metabolic syndrome was introduced as a diagnostic category to identify the individuals that satisfy arbitrary chosen criteria to initiate lifestyle changes, and drug treatment when needed, with the goal of decreasing risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus.

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