Are you aged over 35 and feeling unfit or having a big waistline

written By Dr. Peter Wong

(last updated on Oct 12th 2020)

If you lack exercise and your waist is bulging forward or hanging down, take note that you may already have or on the way to have Metabolic Syndrome.  Metabolic Syndrome is becoming more common as more people are obese.  Having Metabolic Syndrome increases your chance in having coronary heart disease, diabetes mellitus and stroke.  All these diseases can potentially be preventable or at least have their onset delayed, if only you take decisive actions early.

To determine whether you have Metabolic Syndrome, we need to take five measurements from you: (1) waist and hip, (2) blood pressure, (3) blood triglycerides, (4) blood high density lipoprotein, and (5) blood glucose.  After our expert evaluation, Metabolic Syndrome can be confirmed if three or more of these measurements are abnormal.  Your health status deteriorates with increasing number or severity of these metabolic risk factors.  Furthermore, if you have a stressful lifestyle like many Hong Kongers, engage in tobacco smoking or drinking excess alcohol, then you should really be serious about your health hazards and try to correct these risks.   

In addition to performing the above assessments, our Cardiac Specialist shall offer you an exercise stress treadmill and a harmless carotid ultrasound to assess your current heart and blood vessel health.  You will also meet our Dietitian for a comprehensive dietary review and recommendation.  After determining your cardio-metabolic health profile, our Physiotherapist will work with you for a suitable exercise programme.

At Asia Medical Specialists, we strongly believe in having a longer and healthier life.  So you can make a healthy start in our multi-disciplinary Cardio-Metabolic Risk Assessment and Intervention programme and engage in preventive actions early.

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References:

1. What is Metabolic Syndrome? U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute. https:// www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/ms/ accessed on 07Aug2017.