著者

長野 真弓 熊谷 秋三

出版者

九州大学

雑誌

健康科学 (ISSN:03877175)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.26, pp.9-20, 2004-03-25

---

Metabolic syndrome has been defined as a clustering of such metabolic abnormalities as glucose intolerance, dyslipidemia, hypertension and abdominal obesity. Two different criteria for metabolic syndrome have been proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO; 1999) and National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP; 2001). In addition, some prospective cohort studies have shown that people who have metabolic syndrome have a higher incidence of coronary heart disease, coronary vascular disease, and all-cause mortality than people without metabolic syndrome. As a result, both behavior-related factors and psychological factors are thus considered to be related to metabolic syndrome. In this review, we present several types of epidemiological evidence focusing especially on the relationships among physical activity, cardiorespiratory fitness and psychological distress in regard to metabolic syndrome. A few epidemiological studies have reported a significant relationship between physical activity and psychological distress regarding the prevalence and/or incidence of metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome may therefore be an independent predictor for lifestylerelated diseases that are influenced by behavioral, psychological, and pathophysiological factors. However, the number of studies on the above problems is still insufficient. In particular, it is important for future studies to consider such methodological problems as the lack of directly measured physical fitness and visceral fat accumulation. In addition, interventional studies should be conducted to assess what effects an improvement in behavioral or psychological factors may have on the development of metabolic syndrome.