Better definition and intense study of "Prediabetes" and the Metabolic Syndrome have led in the last decade to some important insights:

• "Prediabetes" and the Metabolic Syndrome are extremely prevalent
  
• People with "Prediabetes" and the Metabolic Syndrome are at high risk for diabetes and CVD and are the ideal target population for prevention programs
  
• There are safe, potentially effective, interventions, which can affect modifiable risk factors
  
• Intensive lifestyle interventions are efficacious and should be encouraged. However, they may be difficult to broadly apply and/or sustain
  
• Effective pharmacological therapies must also be identified

The enormous impact of this issue on public health, and the impressive progress made recently, led us to initiate and convene the 1st International Congress on "Prediabetes" and the Metabolic Syndrome, Epidemiology, Management and Prevention of Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease, which will be held in Berlin, Germany, April 13-16, 2005.

This congress will be dedicated to the advances made in this field and will serve as a much needed platform in which screening and intervention efforts will be presented and evaluated.

We hope the congress will attract many physicians working in this field. Eventually, the series of congresses, which will, hopefully, follow, may become the primary arena where pharmacotherapy of Prediabetes and the dysglycemia in the Metabolic Syndrome, and their relationship to CVD, will be discussed and decided upon.

We do hope that you will decide to take part in this important event.

Yours sincerely