Metabolic syndrome? A critical look from the viewpoints of causal diagrams and statistics

The debate on the metabolic syndrome has attracted great interest among physicians and researchers. This article sheds new light on the term by using a tool called causal diagrams (also known as causal directed acyclic graphs). Formal analysis according to causal and statistical principles reveals little substance behind the new syndrome, as well as numerous false claims. From a research viewpoint, continued use of a variable called 'metabolic syndrome status' should be discouraged.