Microvascular impairment is associated with insulin resistance in euglycemic mild hypertensives.

Background: Hypertension and diabetes are significantly associated with insulin resistance (IR), which could affect the vasodilatory capacity and microcirculation. The aim of the study was to verify whether IR is associated with a reduced microvascular blood flow in normoglycemic mild hypertensives.

Methods: Eighty-four untreated grade-1 hypertensives were equally divided, according to the IR homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) index, into three groups: IR-Low = 2.

Measures of total stress-induced blood pressure responses are associated with vascular damage.

Background: The role of cardiovascular reactivity to study hypertension, and the assessment methods, are still controversial. We aimed to verify the association of hypertension and vascular damage with several measures of cardiovascular response.

Methods: We studied 40 patients with normal-high (132 +/- 1/87 +/- 1 mm Hg) blood pressure (Group 1) and 80 untreated hypertensive subjects.