RESUMEN
BACKGROUND : This study was initiated to evaluate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its components as risk factors for cardiovascular disease according to insulin resistance in the Korean adult population. METHODS : This study was conducted as a branch of the Korean Metabolic Syndrome (KMS) Study: 1,091 individuals aged 30 79 years participating in medical check-up in Korea Association of Health (KAH) were included in this study. We checked fasting blood sugar, fasting insulin, proinsulin, lipid profiles (total cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol), body mass index, waist circumference, blood pressure, carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and abdominal ultrasonography. We divided all of the examinees into three groups (insulin sensitive, intermediate, resistant tertiles) according to their degree of insulin resistance and correlated this with the prevalence of metabolic syndrome. RESULTS : The relative risk of metabolic syndrome was 84.1-fold higher in the insulin resistant tertile group compared to the insulin sensitive tertile group. Diabetes mellitus or impaired fasting glucose (IFG) was 10.2-fold; hypertension, 1.8-fold; dyslipidemia, 2.8-fold; hypercholesterolemia, 2.5-fold; fatty liver, 3.0-fold. Abdominal obesity rather than general obesity was more contributory to insulin resistance. CONCLUSION : Although this is a cross-sectional study, we can show that insulin resistance is one of the most-striking risk factors in metabolic syndrome and can be used as a predictor of cardiovascular diseases. Furthermore, we should monitor the healthy insulin-resistant population to prevent ongoing cardiovascular diseases. More prolonged data should be gained to refine the correlations of insulin resistance to metabolic syndrome.