[Study on relationship between insulin-resistance and syndrome differentiation typing in hypertensive patients]

To find the relationship between insulin-resistance and Syndrome Differentiation typing (SDT) in hypertensive patients.

Two hundred and nine patients of early stage hypertension with no complication of heart, brain or kidney were selected and classified into 4 types according to SDT, the Liver-Fire exuberant type (A), the Phlegm-Dampness abundant type (B), the Yin-Deficiency and Yang-Excess type (C) and the both Yin-Yang Deficiency type (D). Their insulin sensitivity were examined and compared with that of 40 healthy subjects.

(1) Compared with healthy subjects, all hypertensive patients had apparent insulin resistance (P < 0.05). If the insulin sensitivity of healthy subjects was defined as 1, that of patients of type A, B, C and D were 0.54, 0.58, 0.65 and 0.80 respectively. (2) Comparison between the insulin sensitivity of type A, B and C showed no significant difference, while they were compared with type D, the difference was significant (P < 0.05), that is, the insulin sensitivity of type D was close to that of healthy subjects. (3) The fasting blood insulin of type D was obviously lower and the insulin sensitivity of type D was obviously higher than that of the other three types (P = 0.0001). (4) After adjusting age, sex and body mass indexes, multivariate regression analysis demonstrated that insulin sensitivity was closely correlated with SDT (P = 0.0001).

Insulin resistance is one of the pathological basis for SDT in hypertension.