What are some of the main medical treatments for metabolic syndrome?

    Last Updated: October 25, 2023

    The primary goal of clinical management is to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.[1] Lifestyle interventions (i.e., changes in dietary and physical activity habits and smoking cessation) are the initial strategy to treat MetS, followed by pharmacological therapy — if necessary — to improve individual risk factors. There are no guidelines from medical organizations for the pharmacological treatment of MetS; pharmacological treatment depends on the individual’s unique circumstances and may include a statin to improve blood lipids, a glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) or sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor to further reduce cardiovascular disease risk, metformin to increase insulin sensitivity, and/or a renin-angiotensin system (RAS) blocker to reduce blood pressure, among other drugs.[2][3][4] In people with severe obesity, bariatric surgery is a highly effective option.

    References

    1. ^Grundy SM, Cleeman JI, Daniels SR, Donato KA, Eckel RH, Franklin BA, Gordon DJ, Krauss RM, Savage PJ, Smith SC Jr, Spertus JA, Costa F, American Heart Association, National Heart, Lung, and Blood InstituteDiagnosis and management of the metabolic syndrome: an American Heart Association/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Scientific StatementCirculation.(2005 Oct 25)
    2. ^Lim S, Eckel RHPharmacological treatment and therapeutic perspectives of metabolic syndrome.Rev Endocr Metab Disord.(2014-Dec)
    3. ^, Draznin B, Aroda VR, Bakris G, Benson G, Brown FM, Freeman R, Green J, Huang E, Isaacs D, Kahan S, Leon J, Lyons SK, Peters AL, Prahalad P, Reusch JEB, Young-Hyman D9. Pharmacologic Approaches to Glycemic Treatment: Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes-2022.Diabetes Care.(2022-01-01)
    4. ^François Mach, Colin Baigent, Alberico L Catapano, Konstantinos C Koskinas, Manuela Casula, Lina Badimon, M John Chapman, Guy G De Backer, Victoria Delgado, Brian A Ference, Ian M Graham, Alison Halliday, Ulf Landmesser, Borislava Mihaylova, Terje R Pedersen, Gabriele Riccardi, Dimitrios J Richter, Marc S Sabatine, Marja-Riitta Taskinen, Lale Tokgozoglu, Olov Wiklund, ESC Scientific Document Group2019 ESC/EAS Guidelines for the management of dyslipidaemias: lipid modification to reduce cardiovascular riskEur Heart J.(2020 Jan 1)