H1N1 and metabolic syndrome (diabetes, etc.)

[AlaskaDenise]

While Diabetes itself is considered a high risk condition for pandemic H1N1, metabolic syndrome (insulin resistance, diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease and other abnormalities) has some interesting connections to the severe cases of supposedly healthy people being reported.

Insulin resistance can occur many years before diabetes is diagnosed. It is estimated to affect 70 to 80 million Americans.

One of the recognized abnormalities caused by metabolic syndrome is elevated levels of plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1). PAI-1 is present in increased levels in various disease states (such as a number of forms of cancer), as well as in obesity and the metabolic syndrome. It has been linked to the increased occurrence of thrombosis in patients with these conditions.

It's been debated whether metabolic syndrome (specifically insulin resistance) causes obesity or visa versa. However, once the cycle has started, the obesity increase insulin resistance. Both conditions are related to inceased PAI-1 and increased chances of thrombosis in H1N1.

The good news is that insulin resistance can be stopped from progression and sometimes reversed.

References:
http://www.aafp.org/afp/20010315/1159.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasminogen_activator_inhibitor-1
http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/49/8/1374.full.pdf

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[AlaskaDenise]

Re: H1N1 and metabolic syndrome (diabetes, etc.)

(snipped from conclusion of large paper)

In conclusion, our results show that the entire fat mass contributes
to plasma PAI-1 level in morbidly obese patients.
The increase in adipose tissue PAI-1 could be the result of
cytokine disturbance, which specifically accompanies insulin
resistance. From our results, it could be speculated that
TGF-1 is of particular relevance.

http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/49/8/1374.full.pdf

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Insulin resistance can be undetected for many years, quietly causing these various problems.

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