Insulin resistance syndrome predicts coronary heart disease events in elderly nondiabetic men

Background-The role of a cluster of risk factors characteristic for the ins ulin resistance syndrome as a predictor for coronary heart disease (CHD) ha s not been studied previously. Methods and Results-Clustering of cardiovascular risk factors was analyzed by factor analysis to investigate whether these clusters (factors) predict CHD events (CHD death or nonfatal myocardial infarction) in a nondiabetic p opulation of 1069 subjects 65 to 74 years old from eastern Finland followed up for 7 years. There were 151 CHD events (92 for men, 59 for women) durin g the follow-up period. In men, factor 1 (the insulin resistance factor, wh ich reflected primarily body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, triglycerides, fasting plasma glucose, and insulin) (hazards ratio [HR] with 95% CI, 1.33 , CI 1.08, 1.65, P=0.008), factor 2 (alcohol consumption, high HDL choleste rol, low triglycerides) (HR 0.78, CI 0.63, 0.96, P=0.020), factor 3 (age, s ystolic blood pressure, urinary albumin/creatinine ratio, left ventricular hypertrophy) (HR 1.52, CI 1.26, 1.83, P<0.001), and factor 4 (high total ch olesterol and triglycerides) (HR 1.42, CI 1.15, 1.77, P=0.002) predicted CH D events in multivariate Cox regression analysis. In women, the insulin res istance factor did not predict CHD events (HR 1.06, CI 0.82, 1.36), but fac tor 2 (previous stroke, tow HDL cholesterol and high triglycerides) (HR 1.3 4, CI 1.06, 1.69, P=0.014) and factor 3 (age, systolic blood pressure, urin ary albumin/creatinine ratio, left ventricular hypertrophy) (HR 1.44, CI 1. 15, 1.82, P=0.002) predicted CHD events. Conclusions-Our study supports the notion that the insulin resistance syndr ome is a risk factor for CHD in elderly men.