Hyperinsulinism: Complications

The following are the most important diseases or complications that may be contributed to by hyperinsulinism:

Endocrine, nutritional, and metabolic diseases (E00-E90).

Cardiovascular system (I00-I99)

  • Atherosclerosis (arteriosclerosis, hardening of the arteries) is forced by hyperinsulinemia in its development
  • Coronary heart disease (CHD) – Added sugars drive coronary heart disease via insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia
  • Myocardial infarction (MI) – Estimation of health risks based on Mendelian randomization of 12 defined SNPs:
    • Men with genetic hyperinsulinemia had a highly statistically significant 4.27-fold increased risk of myocardial infarction (odds ratio 4.27).
    • The risk was not increased in women.

Liver, gallbladder, and biliary tract-pancreas (K70-K77; K80-K87).

  • Fatty liver hepatitis
  • Steatosis hepatis (fatty liver) – threefold increased risk in obesity.

Neoplasms (C00-D48)

  • Cervical carcinoma (cancer of the cervix)* .
  • Colon carcinoma (colorectal carcinoma; colon cancer)*
  • Liver carcinoma (liver cancer)*
  • Esophageal carcinoma (esophageal cancer)*
  • Pancreatic carcinoma (pancreatic cancer)*

* High fasting glucose – as occurs subsequently in diabetes mellitus – was associated with an increased risk of carcinoma, according to the results of a large prospective cohort study in Korea – men had a 27% and women a 31% increased risk of dying from carcinoma.

Symptoms and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings not elsewhere classified (R00-R99)

  • Chronic inflammation (inflammation) – to be detected, for example, by elevated high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP).

Further

  • Insulin serum levels that are high-normal or slightly elevated lead to suppression of lipolysis (fat cleavage) and promotion of lipogenesis (fat formation) in adipocytes (cells of adipose tissue). Furthermore, the effect of insulin on glucose transport or hepatic glucose production requires hormone levels six to two times higher.
  • Increased mortality (death rate).