Insulin-resistance HCV infection-related affects vascular stiffness in normotensives

• Published in: Atherosclerosis Vol. 238; no. 1; pp. 108 - 112
• Main Authors: Perticone, Maria, Maio, Raffaele, Tassone, Eliezer Joseph, Tripepi, Giovanni, Di Cello, Serena, Miceli, Sofia, Caroleo, Benedetto, Sciacqua, Angela, Licata, Anna, Sesti, Giorgio, Perticone, Francesco
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier Ireland Ltd 01.01.2015
• Subjects: Adult; Arterial stiffness; Blood Pressure; Body Mass Index; Cardiovascular; Case-Control Studies; Chronic hepatitis C virus infection; Female; Hepatitis C, Chronic - blood; Hepatitis C, Chronic - complications; Humans; Hyperinsulinism - blood; Hyperinsulinism - complications; Hypertension; Insulin - blood; Insulin Resistance; Linear Models; Male; Middle Aged; Pulse Wave Analysis; Risk Factors; Vascular Stiffness; Arterial stiffness; Insulin resistance; Chronic hepatitis C virus infection
• ISSN: 0021-9150; 1879-1484
• DOI: 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2014.11.025

Abstract Background and Aims . Arterial stiffness evaluated as pulse wave velocity, is an early marker of vascular damage and an independent predictor for cardiovascular events. We investigated if the insulin resistance/hyperinsulinemia chronic hepatitis C virus infection-related could influence arterial stiffness. Methods . We enrolled 260 outpatients matched for age, body mass index, gender, ethnicity: 52 with never-treated uncomplicated chronic hepatitis C virus infection (HCV+ ), 104 never-treated hypertensives (HT) and 104 healthy subjects (NT). Pulse wave velocity was evaluated by a validated system employing high-fidelity applanation tonometry. We also measured: fasting plasma glucose and insulin, total, LDL- and HDL-cholesterol, triglyceride, creatinine, e-GFR-EPI, HOMA, quantitative HCV-RNA. Results . HCV+ patients with respect to NT had an increased pulse wave velocity (7.9 ± 2.1 vs 6.4 ± 2.1 m/s; P  < 0.0001), similar to that observed in HT group (8.8 ± 3.2 m/s). HCV+ patients, in comparison with NT, had higher triglyceride, creatinine, fasting insulin and HOMA (3.2 ± 1.3 vs 2.5 ± 1.0; P  < 0.0001). At linear regression analysis, the correlation between pulse wave velocity and HOMA was similar in HT ( r  = 0.380, P  < 0.0001) and HCV+ ( r  = 0.369, P  = 0.004) groups. At multiple regression analysis, HOMA resulted the major determinant of pulse wave velocity in all groups, explaining respectively 11.8%, 14.4% and 13.6% of its variation in NT, HT and HCV+ . At correlational analysis hepatitis C virus-RNA and HOMA demonstrated a strong and linear relationship between them, explaining the 72.4% of their variation ( P  = 0.022). Conclusions . We demonstrated a significant and direct correlation between HOMA and pulse wave velocity in HCV+ patients, similar to that observed in hypertensives.