The metabolic syndrome is a constellation of risk factors including glucose 
dysregulation, central obesity, dyslipidemia, and hypertension. There are 
multiple definitions that have been described by various health organizations. 
However, we do know that insulin resistance plays a major role as the underlying 
cause for the development and potentiation of the metabolic syndrome. At 
present, it is unclear if the diagnosis of metabolic syndrome is greater than 
the sum of its parts. However, the presence of more than one of the associated 
risk factors should indicate that a patient is at increased risk for developing 
diabetes, cardiovascular disease and death. Thus, the primary care physician 
should aggressively treat the metabolic risk factors in their patients to 
prevent the onset and progression to more severe disease.