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Article: Metabolic syndrome diagnostic code rarely used in practice.(News)
- Article from:
- Family Practice News
- Article date:
- September 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 International Medical News Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Despite America's obesity epidemic, use of the diagnostic code for metabolic syndrome in U.S. clinical practice is "rarer than a blue moon," according to Earl S. Ford, M.D.
In 2001, the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) established a definition for the metabolic syndrome, the constellation of anthropometric, physiologic, and biochemical abnormalities that are believed to increase the risk for cardiovascular disease. (See box.)
That same year, the syndrome acquired its own International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision code (277.7). But a review of two national data sets revealed that the code has not been widely embraced, said Dr. ...