Obesity and insulin resistance: routes to vascular disease

Insulin resistance and obesity are very common in Western society and are associated with comorbidities such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, polycystic ovarian syndrome, dyslipidemia, hyperuricemia, and cardiovascular disease, among others. Obesity and insulin resistance can both lead to vascular dysfunction. Obesity, an excessive storage of fat in the body, is defined as a body mass index>30kg/m2 in most populations. Insulin resistance is defined as a syndrome where normal plasma insulin levels do not mount a normal metabolic response (uptake/lowering/suppression of release, etc.) which is centered around plasma glucose but may also involve lipolysis and other metabolic and hormonal responses from target tissues.