WEDNESDAY, June 7 (HealthDay News) -- Exposure to pathogens associated with inflammation and atherosclerosis including herpes simplex virus (HSV) and Chlamydia pneumoniae may also be associated with a greater risk of developing insulin resistance, according to a study in the May issue of Diabetes Care.
Jose-Manuel Fernandez-Real, M.D., Ph.D., from the Institut d'Investigacio Biomedica de Girona in Spain, and colleagues randomly selected 124 healthy middle-aged men from an ongoing epidemiological study to examine the effect of exposure to HSV-1, HSV-2, enteroviruses and C. pneumoniae on insulin sensitivity.
The investigators found HSV-2 titer was negatively associated with insulin sensitivity, even after controlling for multiple risk factors. Similar associations were made with C. pneumoniae (r = -0.50) and enteroviruses (r = -0.71).
Insulin resistance is the primary component of metabolic syndrome and is a risk factor for coronary artery disease. "Exposure to multiple pathogens could cause a chronic low-grade inflammation, resulting in insulin resistance and finally leading to atherosclerosis," the authors conclude.
Abstract
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