[Insulin resistance and cardiovascular complications].

Several epidemiologic and clinical studies over the past years have shown that insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia are related to dyslipidemia, hypertension, android obesity and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). The insulin-resistance syndrome is thus closely associated with a cluster of potent cardiovascular risk factors, thereby explaining the 3-4 times higher incidence of cardiovascular disease in NIDDM. Recent observations point to the fact that insulin resistance is genetically determined and can be diagnosed a long time before the clinical manifestation of diabetes mellitus in the prediabetic stage (stage of hyperinsulinemia, hypertension and hyperlipidemia). Hence, it is not surprising that many NIDDM subjects suffer from cardiovascular complications already at the time diabetes is diagnosed. The pathogenetic mechanism of insulin resistance/hyperinsulinemia as cardiovascular risk factor is considered to be a direct atherogenic action of insulin on vessel wall cells and an indirect effect on upper body obesity, blood pressure, lipids and hemostasis.