Affiliations: Dipartimento di Medicina Interna, Malattie Cardiovascolari e Nefrourologiche, University of Palermo, Italy | Clinica Medica Base, University of Palermo, Italy
Note: [] Corresponding author: Dott. Rosalia Lo Presti, Dipartimento di Medicina Interna, Malattie Cardiovascolari e Nefrourologiche Policlinico, Via del Vespro 129, 90127 Palermo, Italy. Tel. +39 91 655 4406; Fax: +39 91 655 4535.
Abstract: Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) has been defined as a clinical condition including impaired glucose tolerance or diabetes mellitus and/or insulin‐resistance, associated with two or more of the following components: arterial hypertension, central obesity, dyslipidaemia, microalbuminuria. In a group of subjects with MetS we examined the macrohaemorheological profile, demonstrating a significant increase of blood, plasma and serum viscosity and a decrease of whole blood filterability. The results show that in these subjects a secondary hyperviscosity condition is present, but also that several significant correlations are present between the haemorheological variables and some aspects of MetS, especially those reflecting central obesity (waist to hip ratio) and insulin‐resistance. The altered haemorheological profile likely contributes to explain the high cardiovascular risk present in MetS, but it may also participate, through its influence on haemodynamic pattern, in the pathogenesis of insulin‐resistance.
