Objective: To explore the relationship between blood pressure and serum insulin level in different nationalities and whether there is difference in the effects of insulin on raising blood pressure.
Methods: Study subjects were selected with cluster sampling from urban and rural areas in Xichang City, Butuo County and Zhaojue County, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province during October to December 1996, including Yi farmers, Yi migrants and local Han residents. Their systolic and diastolic blood pressure, body height and weight, and serum insulin were measured.
Results: Systolic and diastolic blood pressure in Yi farmers were significantly lower than those in Yi migrants and local Han residents. There was no significant difference in systolic and diastolic blood pressure between Yi migrants and local Han residents and in serum insulin level between Yi farmers and Yi migrants, with the means of 9.078 microIU/ml and 8.892 microIU/ml, respectively. But, serum insulin level in Yi farmers and migrants was significantly higher than that in local Han residents (6.577 microIU/ml). Multivariate regression analysis showed that there was no significant relationship between serum insulin level and systolic and diastolic blood pressure in different populations, except for that there was a weaker relationship between serum insulin and systolic blood pressure in Yi migrants.
Conclusion: The association between serum insulin and blood pressure was uncertainty, which suggested that blood pressure was little affected by serum insulin.