Background: The prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS), regarded as an important risk factor for coronary artery disease, is growing. However, the relationship between MS and long-term outcomes after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in the Japanese patient population remains unknown.
Methods and results: Seven-hundred and forty-eight consecutive patients who underwent PCI were assessed. Patients were categorized by the presence or absence of MS using the NCEP-ATPIII definition (for obesity, a body mass index >or=25 kg/m(2) was used). Kaplan-Meier estimation and Cox proportional hazards model were used for unadjusted and adjusted analyses for all cause mortality and cardiac events. The progress of 318 (42.5%) patients with MS and 430 (57.5%) patients without MS was analyzed. The mean follow-up was 12.0+/-3.6 years. Overall, there were 88 (11.8%) deaths from all causes, and there were no significant differences between the 2 groups. The occurrence of cardiac events was significantly higher in the MS group than that in the no MS group (25.5% vs 15.6%, hazard ratio 2.23; 95% confidence interval 1.59-3.11; p<0.001).
Conclusions: The presence of MS significantly increased the risks of subsequent cardiac events among patients who underwent PCI.