Relationship between hyperinsulinemia and risk factors of atherosclerosis.

Abstract

In order to study the relationship between hyperinsulinemia and atherosclerosis, an examination was made on the relationship of hyperinsulinemia to the risk factors of atherosclerosis, using as subjects a total of 2,927 composed of Japanese resident in Hawaii and Los Angeles and Japanese resident in Hiroshima whose age ranged from 40 to 79 and who underwent oral glucose tolerance test in our Hawaii-Los Angeles-Hiroshima medical study between 1978 and 1982. The subjects were classified into five groups of comparable size according to fasting insulin level, studied on the various risk factors of atherosclerosis in each group. The results of this study showed that the hyperinsulinemia group had in comparison with the four other groups a higher mean body mass index, mean serum total cholesterol value and mean serum triglyceride value, and further had a higher prevalence of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, ECG abnormalities, hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia. Moreover, the mean serum HDL-cholesterol value was lower in the hyperinsulinemia group than in the other four groups. A similar examination was made with subgroups with normal body weight, and almost the same results were obtained. The above results suggest that hyperinsulinemia is rather strongly implicated in the development of atherosclerosis via a number of relationships though not specifically indicating that hyperinsulinemia independently is a risk factor of atherosclerosis.