Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome in Urban India

Background. Metabolic syndrome (MS) is characterised by a constellation of individual risk factors of cardiovascular disease. Materials and Methods. The current study was a population-based survey of cohort of subjects in the metropolitan city of Mumbai. A total of 548 subjects, who attended the CARDIAC evaluation camp, were recruited in the study. Participants with complete fasting lipid profiles, blood glucose, and known cardiac risk markers were evaluated. Results. On applying modified NCEP ATP III, we found out that nearly 95% of the subjects had at least one abnormal parameter. We found the prevalence of MS in our study population to be 19.52%. The prevalence of MS in males was almost double than females (P = .008). The overall prevalence of BMI (>23 kg/m2) was 79.01%. Increased hypertriglyceridemia and decreased levels of HDL-C were found to be more in males (P < .0001). Conclusion. The low percentage of subjects with normal and controlled parameters suggests that there is a need for awareness programs and lifestyle interventions for the prevention and control of MS

Platelet polymorphisms: frequency distribution and association with coronary artery disease in an Indian population

Platelets play a critical role in normal blood hemostasis and thrombus formation in myocardial infarction (MI). Several polymorphisms of genes involved in platelet activation and fibrinolysis have been reported to be associated with MI. The aim of the present study was to determine the frequency distribution and association of polymorphisms in these genes with coronary artery disease (CAD) among Indians. A case-control genetic association study was performed for polymorphisms in platelet glycoprotein receptors (GPIIb/IIIa [HPA1a/1b], GPIb-IX-V [VNTR], and GPIa/IIa [C807T]), fibrinogen &#946;-chain (BclI), &#945;-chain (A&#945;312), tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) [I/D] and plasminogen activator inhibitor-I (PAI-1) [4G/5G] in 473 healthy controls and 446 patients with stable and unstable angina. Genotyping was either by PCR-based restriction endonuclease digestion or allele-specific primers. The I allele frequency of the tPA I/D polymorphism was significantly higher in our patients (&#967;2=7.33, P&lt;0.01) and no other polymorphisms varied significantly between patients and controls. Also, none of the polymorphisms seemed to affect the severity of the disease, the only exception being the mutant alleles of &#946; chain of fibrinogen gene, which were significantly elevated in single vessel disease. This is the first study to evaluate the role of gene polymorphisms in both the thrombotic and fibrinolytic pathway in the Indian population and suggests that tPA I/D polymorphism confers CAD risk in our population