To examine the relationship between hyperinsulinemia and clusters of cardiovascular risk factors in middle-aged hypertensive patients.
A population-based study.
Pieksämäki District Health Center, and the Community health Center of the city of Tampere, in central Finland.
Hypertensive men and women aged 36, 41, 46, and 51 years (n = 18) in the town of Pieksämäki, and a normotensive control population of 177 subjects aged 40 and 45 years in the city of Tampere.
Clusters of obesity (body mass index > 30.0 kg/m2), abdominal adiposity (waist:hip ratio > 1.00 for men and > 0.88 for women), hypertriglyceridemia (> 1.70 mmol/l), a low level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (