Introduction to The Canadian Journal of Cardiology Symposium supplement

The present supplement contains papers based on the presentations at the outstanding Canadian Journal of Cardiology (CJC) Symposium held at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress in Quebec City in October 2007.

The CJC Symposium is an annual plenary session at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress, cosponsored by the Canadian Cardiovascular Society and Pulsus Group Inc, publisher of the Journal. The format that has evolved uniquely features Canadian science; each year, the symposium has a subject focus and is held in collaboration with a Canadian research institution with expertise in that specific area of research. One of the four speakers, however, usually comes from another Canadian institution.

In 2007, the focus of the symposium was on abdominal obesity and the metabolic syndrome. An obvious Canadian centre of excellence with international recognition is the Quebec Heart Institute at the Université Laval – the Institute also happened to be celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2007. The symposium was co-chaired by Dr Jean-Pierre Després, whose paper entitled “Abdominal obesity: The cholesterol of the 21st century?” is the first manuscript in this supplement. The second paper, also from the Quebec Heart Institute, is authored by Dr Paul Poirier and is entitled “Targeting abdominal obesity in cardiology: Can we be effective?” The third paper, entitled “Abdominal obesity and the metabolic syndrome: A surgeon’s perspective”, is by Dr Patrick Mathieu, a clinician scientist who is a cardiac surgeon at the Institute in Quebec. Dr Robert Ross from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, completed the excellent group of speakers at the symposium and his paper entitled “Is weight loss the optimal target for obesity-related cardiovascular disease risk reduction?” completes this supplement.

The CJC Symposium was very well attended, with excellent content; the papers in this supplement to the Journal will serve as a valuable overview on this important subject area. We greatly appreciate the collaboration of exceptional faculty from the Quebec Heart Institute and of Dr Robert Ross, who have made this supplement possible.