Dear Colleagues,

We would like to welcome you to the 3^rd edition of the “International Congress on Abdominal Obesity: Bridging the Gap Between Cardiology and Diabetology”. This meeting is organized by the International Chair on Cardiometabolic Risk (ICCR), a multidisciplinary academic organization based at the Centre de recherche de l’Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec which is affiliated with Université Laval located in Québec City, Canada.

As we are going through an epidemic of poor nutritional habits and sedentary lifestyle, we are also experiencing as a consequence a rapid growth in the worldwide prevalence of type 2 diabetes, which is largely a lifestyle metabolic disease. Most patients with type 2 diabetes are sedentary and characterized by a dangerous form of overweight/obesity: abdominal obesity. It is now well known that abdominal obesity increases the risk of developing a plethora of complications such as an atherogenic dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, features of the so-called metabolic syndrome, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, sleep apnea and some forms of cancers, to only list some well documented disorders.

Unfortunately, it has become evident that the worldwide epidemic of abdominal obesity cannot be handled by the current medical model in which complications such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease are most often managed by downstream and costly medical procedures/therapies. Furthermore, these complications are often evaluated and managed in isolation without the help of the proper multidisciplinary resources to improve patients’ nutritional and physical activity/exercise habits. There is clearly a need to take a fresh look at this “societal” disease and to explore not only how to better assess and manage the risk of abdominal obesity, but how to work upstream at both individual and public health levels to combat this epidemic of abdominal obesity, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes as these conditions remain key drivers of cardiovascular disease.

The 3^rd International Congress on Abdominal Obesity will build upon the success of its two previous meetings held in Hong Kong in 2010 and Buenos Aires in 2011. With more than 60 countries involved, the conference truly has an international flavour and fills a need in this area. The main objective of this meeting is to further emphasize the notion that abdominal obesity is a new powerful modifiable risk factor which, along with traditional risk factors, plays a central role in the determination of an individual’s cardiometabolic risk.

Over a period of only 3 years, this new congress has rapidly become the international platform to discuss novel approaches and share scientific and clinical data to benefit regional healthcare professionals, clinicians and scientists in our fight against the epidemic of abdominal obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. At the same time, questions on abdominal obesity, diabetes, dyslipidemia and hypertension will be reviewed in depth.

Some of the key topics to be addressed include:

• Assessment of abdominal obesity, metabolic syndrome and related cardiometabolic risk;
• Pathophysiology of abdominal obesity and related cardiometabolic risk;
• Assessment of global cardiometabolic risk: epidemiological evidence;
• Clinical management of CVD risk in abdominal obesity and type 2 diabetes;
• Management of abdominal obesity and global cardiometabolic risk: physical activity/exercise;
• Nutritional management of abdominal obesity and type 2 diabetes: from dieting to eating healthy.

As the ICCR is based at the Centre de recherche de l’Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec and Université Laval, we are particularly proud to welcome you on our “home turf”, beautiful Québec City, for this exciting scientific event. The meeting will take place during our famous summer festival with numerous activities and exciting outdoor concerts held during that period. Please enjoy the scientific and cultural exchanges! We hope that this edition of ICAO will be memorable for you!

Sincerely yours,

The ICAO 2012 Congress Scientific Committee

The ICAO 2012 International Scientific Advisory Board