[Syndrome X and general medicine].

The general practitioner man be confronted with the X syndrome, which includes central obesity, impaired glucose tolerance or type II diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia and eventually hypertension. Insulinoresistance and hyperinsulinaemia contribute to the pathogenesis of these disorders. The syndrome X, which leads to important cardiovascular morbidity, needs appropriate treatment, which has to take into account the actions of drugs on glucose and lipid profiles. Syndrome X is rarely treated as a whole, but to treat separately each of its manifestations would be a mistake. The necessity of a global approach, a complete understanding of the familial environment and also the duration of the development of syndrome X justify the prominent part of the family doctor in the follow-up.