Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Estimated 10-Year Risk of Fatal Cardiovascular Events Using Various Equations in Greeks With Metabolic Syndrome

We investigated cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in 1501 Greeks (613 men and 888 women, aged 40-65 years) referred to outpatients with metabolic syndrome (MetS) and without diabetes mellitus or CVD. The 10-year risk of fatal CVD events was calculated using European Society of Cardiology Systematic Coronary Risk Estimation (ESC SCORE), HellenicSCORE, and Framingham equations. Raised blood pressure (BP) and hypertriglyceridemia were more common in men (89.6% vs 84.2% and 86.8% vs 74.2%, respectively; P < .001). Low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and abdominal obesity were more common in women (58.2% vs 66.2% and 85.8% vs 97.1%, respectively; P < .001). The 10-year risk of fatal CVD events using HellenicSCORE was higher in men (6.3% +/- 4.3% vs 2.7% +/- 2.1%; P < .001). European Society of Cardiology Systematic Coronary Risk Estimation and Framingham yielded similar results. The risk equations gave similar assessments in a European Mediterranean population except for HellenicSCORE that calculated more MetS women requiring risk modification. This might justify local risk engine evaluation in event-based studies. (Clinical-Trials. gov ID: NCT00416741).