[Hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinism, atherosclerosis].

Abstract

The paper deals with a group of 117 patients with clearly defined clinical signs of atherosclerosis following myocardial infarction appearing in middle age, analyzes relationship between indicators of saccharide metabolism and cardiovascular morbidity within a ten-year period, and discusses its potential cause. Fasting levels taken at 120 minutes after the administration of glucose and the sum of the fasting level and three stimulated levels of blood sugar, or insulin (IRI), were compared with 54 controls as well as within the group of patients. Compared with the control group, the patients had glycemia levels elevated. In the group of patient with ischaemic heart disease (glycemia levels especially the sum but also glycemias at 120 min.) were elevated in persons with signs of ischaemic disease of lower extremities, with hypertension, in cases with increased serum triacylglyceroles, with increased energy intake (including fasting levels). The sum of insulin kept increasing in cases with familial disposition to atherosclerosis, with clinical progression of atherosclerosis over a period of 5 years (non-fatal reinfarctions). This had a highly significant correlation with linoleic acid in total serum lipids suggesting correlation with cardiovascular morbidity. This finding stresses the necessity of a comprehensive view of deviations in sacharide metabolism, especially as regards the relationship between elevated glycemia and cardiovascular morbidity, and between insulin and mortality-causing factors.