LAS VEGAS -- Early action is essential in preventing serious illness or death in patients with metabolic syndrome, Dr. Matthew Phillips said at a meeting on primary care sponsored by the Southern Medical Association.
"You need to let those patients know that this could be a life-or-death situation," he said. Patients who think it's "just a little hypertension or a little diabetes," should be told otherwise.
A quick, unscientific way to draw a patient's attention to the problem is to have the patient stand up straight, and, without bending at the waist, look down at his or her shoes. "If they cannot see their belt buckle, then that's a strong sign that they have metabolic syndrome," said Dr. Phillips, a cardiologist in group practice in Austin, Tex.
Confronting patients with some of the hard facts often can be the most effective way to motivate a change in lifestyle habits, weight loss, and exercise.
Dr. Phillips delivers his own reality check to patients in what he calls the "weight loss challenge," designed for patients in their 60s who are well over 200 pounds and say they can't lose weight.
"I tell them to go to the mall, take a seat and just look around and count how many people you see who are over about 250 pounds and are over 70. They realize there aren't any--they're all dead."
"Suddenly that 60-year-old man realizes he's got less than 10 years to live if he doesn't do something, and it is very effective in driving home the fact that this is really a lethal illness," Dr. Phillips said.
COPYRIGHT 2004 International Medical News Group
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group
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