Review article
The metabolic syndrome or the insulin resistance syndrome? Different names, different concepts, and different goals

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Overview

In contrast to the metabolic syndrome, the IRS is a term used to describe a cluster of abnormalities and related clinical outcomes that occur more commonly in insulin-resistant/hyperinsulinemic individuals. The term IRS is not meant to identify a specific clinical entity, nor does it refer to a specific clinical diagnosis, and it has a much broader implication than the metabolic syndrome. Insulin resistance is not a disease unto itself but rather a physiologic abnormality that increases the

Overview

The goal of the metabolic syndrome is to provide the tools believed necessary to identify presumably insulin-resistant individuals at increased risk for CVD. In marked contrast to the notion of the IRS, its focus is not to provide a physiologic construct with which to put into a cause-and-effect perspective all of the clinical syndromes that are more likely to occur in insulin-resistant individuals. Instead, it should be considered a diagnostic tool and its value evaluated in light of the

Summary

The goal of this article has been to help clarify the difference between two terms, often used interchangeably, that refer to the clinical consequences that can arise from resistance to insulin-mediated glucose disposal and the homeostatic efforts to compensate for this fundamental defect. Perhaps the single point that deserves the most emphasis is that insulin resistance is not a disease but the description of a physiologic state that greatly increases the chances of an individual developing

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