Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

Introduction

Nature Clinical Practice Cardiovascular Medicine volume 5, pages S1–S2 (2008)Cite this article

The papers that comprise this supplement were presented at a meeting held in Lisbon on the 28 and 29 April 2006, sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim and entitled A new dawn in cardiovascular protection. Total cardiovascular risk: rigorous treatment of risk factors. The meeting addressed a range of topics related to renin–angiotensin system blockade and was endorsed by the European Society of Hypertension and the International Society of Nephrology.

The metabolic syndrome, which is usually defined by insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, and hypertension, has been one of the most widely debated health care topics since its conception around 30 years ago. These risk factors are generally known to cluster together; the higher the number present, the greater is an individual's risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Whether these risks have a common underlying pathophysiology and are part of a related syndrome is, however, unclear. This knowledge would be a useful diagnostic aid. Some researchers have suggested that the metabolic syndrome is outdated and that markers such as the Framingham Risk Score, microalbuminuria, C-reactive protein, and independent adipose tissue markers (cytokines and adiponectin) could be more accurate predictors of cardiovascular outcomes.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Acknowledgements

PAREXEL MMS provided writing assistance, comprising preparation of a draft from slides and audio transcript, preparation of figures and obtaining copyright permissions, proofreading, and reference checking.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. E Ritz is a Professor Emeritus in the Division of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine, Ruperto Carola University of Heidelberg, Germany.,

    Eberhard Ritz

  2. B Dahlöf is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Göteborg University, Sweden.,

    Björn Dahlöf

Authors
  1. Eberhard Ritz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Björn Dahlöf
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eberhard Ritz.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

E Ritz has received speaker's honoraria from Abbott, Amgen, Boehringer Ingleheim, Novartis and Roche. B Dahlöf has acted as a consultant for Boehringer Ingleheim, Merck, Novartis and Pfizer; he has also received speaker's honoraria from Boehringer Ingleheim, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer and Servier.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ritz, E., Dahlöf, B. Introduction. Nat Rev Cardiol 5 (Suppl 1), S1–S2 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncpcardio0807

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncpcardio0807

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing