[Insulinemia and intraerythrocytic sodium in normotensive normal-weight subjects with and without a family history for essential arterial hypertension].

: To investigate whether the hyperinsulinemia observed in essential hypertensive subjects anticipates the onset of hypertension, and if it may play a role in predisposing to hypertension, we examined the relationships between fasting insulinemia (F.IRI), C-peptide (C-pep), and some known predictive factors of essential hypertension (EH), such as prehypertensive blood pressure, erythrocyte sodium concentration (ESC) and family history of hypertension. Sixty-two normotensive, lean, euglycemic subjects with no family history of diabetes were subdivided in 2 groups: 32 subjects without (F-) and 30 with (F+) family history of EH (at least one parent). The groups were matched for age, sex and body mass index. Systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressures (p < 0.01 and p < 0.025, respectively), F.IRI (p < 0.0005), C-pep (p < 0.005), and ESC (p < 0.025) were significantly higher, and glucose/insulin ratio (p < 0.0005) lower in F+ than in F-. SBP (r = 0.43, p < 0.001) and DBP (r = 0.415, p < 0.001) were directly correlated to F.IRI and C-pep (respectively r = 0.418, p < 0.001 and r = 0.368, p < 0.01). A direct correlation was also found between mean blood pressure and ESC (r = 0.297, p < 0.05) and between ESC and F.IRI (r = 0.320, p < 0.05). In a separate analysis on the 2 subgroups F+ and F-, the above mentioned parameters were still correlated in the group with but not in the group without family history of hypertension.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)