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The relationship of fasting insulin levels to vascular risk factors in a general practice in Northern Ireland
Author(s) -
BEATTY O. L.,
ATKINSON A. B.,
BROWNE J.,
CLARKE K.,
SHERIDAN B.,
BELL P.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
journal of internal medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.625
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1365-2796
pISSN - 0954-6820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2796.1994.tb01268.x
Subject(s) - medicine , insulin , endocrinology , triglyceride , population , diabetes mellitus , excretion , blood pressure , confounding , morning , family history , cholesterol , environmental health
. Objective. To investigate the relationship between insulin and vascular risk factors in a healthy male population at high risk of ischaemic heart disease. Design. Computer‐generated random number selection of subjects. Setting. A suburban general practice population (total practice population 4500) in Northern Ireland. Subjects. Four hundred male subjects, aged 35–65 years, were randomly selected with 273 responding. Intervention. At interview, each subject completed a questionnaire, had blood pressure measured and a 12‐lead ECG recorded. The next morning, fasting blood samples were taken and a timed overnight urine collection for the albumin excretion rate was returned. Results. To exclude the confounding effects of other variables on insulin concentrations, a healthy nonobese, nondiabetic, normotensive group with no history of ischaemic heart disease, no family history of diabetes and not taking drugs was identified (n = 120). Within this group there was a significant correlation between insulin and triglyceride (r = 0.30; P < 0.05), high‐density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (r = 0.24: P < 0.05) and glucose (r = 0.30: P < 0.05). A group with higher insulin levels (n = 22) were compared to a group with lower insulin levels (n = 22). Serum triglyceride was higher (1.29 ± 0.1 vs. 1.00 ± 0.08 mmol L ‐1 ; P < 0.05), HDL cholesterol was lower (1.26 ± 0.06 vs. 1.50 ± 0.09 mmol L ‐1 ; P < 0.05) and plasma glucose higher (5.2 ± 0.1 vs. 4.9 ± 0.1 mmol L ‐1 ; P < 0.05) in the group with higher insulin levels. Conclusions. There is a relationship between insulin and triglyceride, HDL cholesterol and glucose but not blood pressure, cholesterol or low‐density‐lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in a healthy population at high risk of ischaemic heart disease.