A comprehensive cardiometabolic risk score estimation method in rodents

Cardiometabolic diseases are among the main leading causes of morbidity and mortality over the world. The coexistence of a bundle of metabolic risk factors in an individual has prompted Reaven to consider it as a syndrome, called “X syndrome”. The term has later evolved and the health condition is today called “cardiometabolics syndrome” (CMS). Significant progress in the understanding of the pathophysiology of the CMS has been made during the past years. Being able to adequately assess cardiometabolic risk (CMR) is crucial for proper diagnosis, prevention, and better management of CMS, as this could be helpful to slow down its progression and complications. This could also be useful in the preclinical and clinical evaluation of potential treatment strategies. Several methods have been developed to assess the risk of developing cardiometabolic diseases in chronic and clinical setting. However, these methods show limitations when applying to short and experimental settings involving rodents. Therefore, this commentary aims at redefining and highlighting the main risk factors to be reconsidered in cardiometabolic syndrome definition; and proposing a comprehensive estimation method for the evaluation of the CMR in rodents. This is relevant for an appropriate utilization of the term CMS and a deep evaluation of therapeutic targets in experimental settings.