HISTORY OF METABOLIC SYNDROME

Although the modern era of what we now call the 'metabolic syndrome' or the 'insulin resistance syndrome' seems to have started less than two decades ago with the description of syndrome X by G.M. Reaven (Banting lecture 1988) in the late 1980s, the history of this syndrome is much longer. In particular, a considerable number of scientists, starting as early as almost 90 years ago, have described the very common coexistence of the various components of the syndrome, including hypertension, and some of them gave several names to this clustering. On the other hand, during the past few years several international organizations have tried to form a reference context of what is included under the terms 'metabolic syndrome' and 'insulin resistance syndrome', proposing various 'definitions' for them. The various synonyms exist for metabolic syndrome are Syndrome X, Beer Belly syndrome, Dysmetabolic syndrome, Reaven syndrome.
The term "metabolic syndrome" dates back to at least the late 1950s, but came into common usage in the late 1970s to describe various associations of risk factors with diabetes, that had been noted as early as the 1920s.