Brief Reports
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2005. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Aug 28, 2005; 11(32): 5047-5052
Published online Aug 28, 2005. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v11.i32.5047
Level of proinsulin in association with cardiovascular risk factors and sleep snoring
En-Zhi Jia, Zhi-Jian Yang, Shi-Wei Chen, Guang-Yao Qi, Chun-Fa You, Jian-Feng Ma, Jing-Xin Zhang, Zhen-Zhen Wang, Wei-Chong Qian, Hai-Yan Wang, Wen-Zhu Ma
En-Zhi Jia, Zhi-Jian Yang, Zhen-Zhen Wang, Wei-Chong Qian, Hai-Yan Wang, Wen-Zhu Ma, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu Province, China
Shi-Wei Chen, Guang-Yao Qi, Chun-Fa You, The Disease Control Center of Pizhou City, Pizhou 221300, Jiangsu Province, China
Jian-Feng Ma, Department of Central Clinical Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu Province, China
Jing-Xin Zhang, Department of Nuclear Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu Province, China
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30400173
Correspondence to: Dr. En-Zhi Jia, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Guangzhou Road 300, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu Province, China. enzhijia@yahoo.com.cn
Received: November 8, 2004
Revised: December 17, 2004
Accepted: December 21, 2004
Published online: August 28, 2005
Abstract

AIM: To explore the relationship between the level of proinsulin with cardiovascular risk factors and sleep snoring.

METHODS: Based on the random stratified sampling principle, 1 193 Chinese residents in Pizhou City, Jiangsu Province (530 males and 663 females, aged 35-59 years with an average age of 46.69 years) were recruited. Their sleep snoring habits were investigated. Biotin-avidin based double mAbs ELISA was used to detect specific insulin and proinsulin, and a risk factor score was established to evaluate the individuals according to the number of their risk factors.

RESULTS: The results of Spearman correlation analysis and covariate ANOVA analysis after age and sex were controlled, indicated that not only the level of proinsulin (r = 0.156, P = 0.000, F = 5.980 P = 0.000), but also cardiovascular risk factors score (r = 0.194, P = 0.000, F = 11.135, P = 0.000) significantly associated with the frequency of sleep snoring, and the significant relationship between true insulin and frequency of sleep snoring was only shown in the covariate ANOVA analysis (F = 2.868, P = 0.022). The result of multivariate stepwise logistic regression after age, sex, body mass index, waist circumference and true insulin were controlled showed that proinsulin (division by interval of quartile) was an independent risk factor for sleep snoring (OR = 1.220, 95%CI: 1.085-1.373, P = 0.001).

CONCLUSION: The interaction of cardiovascular risk factors clustering, high proinsulin level and sleep breathing disorder may be a syndrome, which has not been recognized in human beings so far.

Keywords: True insulin; Proinsulin; Snoring; Epidemiology