NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Having the so-called metabolic syndrome may raise the risk of chronic kidney disease in people with type 2 diabetes, researchers from China report.

Metabolic syndrome refers to a cluster of risk factors for diabetes and heart disease -- including abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, low levels of "good" HDL cholesterol and high triglycerides (another type of blood fat). The syndrome is typically diagnosed when a person has three or more of these conditions.

The current study suggests that conventional cardiovascular risk factors are also predictors of kidney trouble, Dr. Peter C. Y. Tong from The Chinese University of Hong Kong noted in comments to Reuters Health. "Hence, physicians should actively assess patients with diabetes for these risk factors and treat them aggressively," Tong said.

Tong and colleagues looked for ties between metabolic syndrome and its components and kidney disease in more than 5,800 Chinese adults with type 2 diabetes.

They found that the risk of developing chronic kidney disease increased as the number of components of the metabolic syndrome increased.

Patients with four components of the metabolic syndrome had a 1.64-fold increased risk of developing chronic kidney disease, while those with five components had a 2.34-fold increased risk, they report in the journal Diabetes Care.

In a "multivariable" analysis, the presence of metabolic syndrome was associated with a 31 percent increased risk of kidney disease compared with people with no evidence of metabolic syndrome.

Addressing the individual components of the metabolic syndrome will not be enough to reduce the risk of kidney disease, Tong noted. However, a "global risk reduction" of high blood sugar, abdominal obesity, high blood pressure and high blood fats should prevent the deterioration of kidney function, the researcher said.

SOURCE: Diabetes Care, December 2008.

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