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Insulin resistance in young, lean male subjects with essential hypertension

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 25, pages 391–400 (2011)Cite this article

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A Corrigendum to this article was published on 12 February 2014

Abstract

Impaired insulin action, frequently found in essential hypertension (HT), is modified by other factors, such as higher age, accumulation of body fat, dyslipidaemia, impaired glucose metabolism and endothelial dysfunction. In addition, antihypertensive and insulin-sensitizing medication itself may significantly affect cardiovascular and metabolic milieu. The aim of this study was to assess insulin sensitivity, acute insulin response, lipidaemic status and the adipokines’ concentrations with regard to abdominal fat distribution in young, lean male subjects with treatment-naïve essential HT and in matched healthy normotensive (NT) subjects. We studied 27 HT patients (age: 19.9±0.6 years; body mass index (BMI): 22.9±0.5 kg m−2) and 15 NT controls (age: 22.3±1.0 years; BMI: 23.7±0.6 kg m−2). The subjects underwent an oral and an intravenous glucose tolerance test (OGTT, IVGTT) on separate days in random order. Higher fasting insulin (P<0.001), non-esterified fatty acids (P<0.05) and plasminogen activator inhibitor factor 1 concentrations (P<0.05) were found in HT patients when compared with NT patients. Despite comparable anthropometric parameters and body fat distribution assessed by magnetic resonance imaging in both groups, newly diagnosed untreated young hypertensive male subjects showed decreased insulin sensitivity, augmented insulin response to both oral and intravenous glucose load (P<0.01; P<0.05 respectively) and ‘higher still normal’ 2-h plasma glucose levels during OGTT. Untreated, young, lean hypertensive male subjects, with distribution of abdominal adipose tissue and lipid profile comparable with their healthy NT matched counterparts, showed considerable signs of insulin resistance and hyperinsulinaemia. We hypothesize that insulin resistance is the initial feature, which is influenced by several environmental factors, and HT is one of their common consequences.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by Grants VEGA 2/7178/27, MZ 2007/27-SAV-02 and CENDO SAV. We thank Mrs Emilia Andelova for her excellent technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Human Endocrinology, Institute of Experimental Endocrinology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia,

    A Penesova, R Imrich, M Vlcek, M Vigas, J Koska & Z Radikova

  2. Department of Cardiology, Out-patient Clinic Karlova Ves, Bratislava, Slovakia

    E Cizmarova

  3. Department of Radiology, Derer's Faculty Hospital, Bratislava, Slovakia

    V Belan

  4. Alpha Medical, Institute of Laboratory Diagnostics, Bratislava, Slovakia

    P Blazicek

  5. The National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Bratislava, Slovakia

    D Selko

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  1. A Penesova
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Correspondence to Z Radikova.

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Penesova, A., Cizmarova, E., Belan, V. et al. Insulin resistance in young, lean male subjects with essential hypertension. J Hum Hypertens 25, 391–400 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2010.72

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