Title:Pulmonary Vascular Function in Insulin Resistance and Diabetes
Volume: 12
Issue: 3
Author(s): Javier Moral-Sanz, Laura Moreno, Angel Cogolludo and Francisco Perez-Vizcaino
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Diabetes, insulin resistance, pulmonary hypertension, endothelium, pulmonary arteries.
Abstract: Insulin resistance and diabetes are current clinical concerns due to their increasing prevalence in western societies
and in developing countries. Cardiovascular alterations, affecting both macro- and microcirculation, are among the
major causes of illness and premature death within patients with insulin resistance or diabetes. However, the detrimental
effects of insulin resistance and diabetes in the lungs are less clinically apparent, or at least masked by the progression of
these metabolic diseases on other target organs. Epidemiological and experimental data suggest a link between pulmonary
arterial hypertension and diabetes. Thereby, hemodynamic derangements in uncontrolled diabetes or insulin resistance are
predisposing factors leading to early pulmonary alterations that in association with a second hit might accelerate the onset
of pulmonary vascular disease and pulmonary hypertension. The present article reviewed the current knowledge about the
effects of insulin resistance and diabetes in a territory which has received little attention until recently: the pulmonary circulation.
