Hyperinsulinemia, Sex, and Risk of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease

Background. The possibility that hyperinsulinemia may be involved in the etiology of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVID) was first suggested 20 years ago. During the last decade, this possibility has received support from three large prospective studies. Methods and Results. In the present study, the association between CVID, glucose intolerance, obesity, and hypertension (the GOH conditions) and hyperinsulinemia was examined cross-sectionally in a representative sample (n = 1,263) of the adult Jewish population aged 40-70 years in Israel. Previously known diabetics were excluded. CVID comprising clinical or ECG evidence of ischemic heart disease, as well as clinical evidence of cerebrovascular or peripheral vascular disease, was identified in 97 men and 39 women. A significant (p<0.01) hyperinsu-linemia-sex interaction was found for CVD rate, with the adjusted risk ratios (followed by 95% confidence limits), relative to the rate in 298 normoinsulinemic women, being 1.15 (0.68-1.95) in 328 normoinsulinemic men, 0.85 (0.48-1.49) in 277 hyperinsulinemic women, and 2.27 (1.33-3.08) in 360 hyperinsulinemic men. Age-adjusted CVD rates in men versus women were: a) similar and low among all normoinsulinemic normotensives and hyperinsulinemics free of any of the GOH conditions (all rates.6.5%); b) similar and high among normoinsulinemi