Macrovascular disease risk factors and insulin resistance in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

It has been proposed that insulin resistance (IR) underlies a cluster of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors constituting a "metabolic syndrome." CVD is a leading cause of premature mortality among indigenous Australians. In a group of younger (15-44 years, fasting glucose <7.8 mmol/l) Aboriginal (n=643) and Torres Strait Islander (n=220) people participating in community-based risk factor surveys, we identified high prevalences of metabolic syndrome components: glucose intolerance, dyslipidaemia, hypertension, and IR. There were inconsistent associations of IR with other risk factors, and the data do not support a direct causal relationship between insulin and other metabolic variables. Rather, metabolic syndrome components may arise from social and environmental factors interacting with behavioural and biochemical factors in individuals.