ABSTRACT
The goal of this chapter will be to provide evidence for the importance of insulin resistance and compensatory hyperinsulinemia, and the manifestations of insulin resistance/compensatory hyperinsulinemia (syndrome X), in the genesis of coronary heart disease (CHD) in nondiabetic individuals. Although insulin resistance, and the body’s response to this defect, are central to the development of CHD in patients with type 2 diabetes, the pathophysiological characteristics of type 2 diabetes and syndrome X are sufficiently different so as to preclude a thoughtful discussion of both syndromes within the constraints of this chapter. On the other hand, discussion of the relationship between insulin resistance, compensatory hyperinsulinemia, and CHD in those with syndrome X will be of considerable relevance to patients with type 2 diabetes.
