| Abstract | The article examines the interrelationships between obesity and various cardiovascular risk factors, and to investigate the relative importance of insulin and obesity in their associations with various pathophysiologies at medical clinics at a university teaching hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong. A heterogeneous cohort of 767 Hong Kong Chinese subjects with a mean age of 43 (standard deviation, 14) years. Pathophysiological abnormalities and risk factors are frequently clustered to varying degrees. Compared with the control subjects, patients with at least one component of the metabolic syndrome were more obese, hyperinsulinaemic, insulin resistant, hyperglycaemic, hypertensive, dyslipidaemic, and albuminuric (all variables, P<0.001). Multiple regression analysis showed that obesity, as reflected by either the body mass index or waist circumference, had a closer association than plasma insulin with the fasting plasma glucose concentratin, blood pressure, and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations. Obesity, hyperinsulinaemia, and insulin resistance are characteristic features of Hong Kong Chinese patients who have various components of the metabolic syndrome. Obesity has a greater effect than plasma insulin on the various associated pathophysiologies. |
|---|
